Bloodlines
by Bellatrix.ox
Summary: Deputy Head Auror, Hermione Jean Granger, is assigned to investigate the strage occurences at the Malfoy Manor, whos occupunts are under House Arrest. After leaving the Manor, Hermione is attacked and left for dead at the gates. To prevent suspicion from the Ministry, the Malfoys hide her away to care for her. But how many ways will Draco care?
1. Chapter 1

Bloodlines: Chapter 1

Malfoy Manor.

_**Draco**_

Father's fork clattered into his bowl when the House Elf, Bashful, appeared at his side suddenly.  
'_Bashful!_' hesnapped 'What do you want?'

The tips of the Elf's ears tinged pink as he bowed in front of his master. 'Mas'er told Bashful to tell Mas'er when Miss Granger from the Ministry of Magic came to Mas'er's house again.' He squeaked whilst his ears began to turn a cruel shade of scarlet that reminded me of one of the Weasly clan.

Lucius frowned, 'Yes, I did, thank you Bashful.' The Elf bowed again and disappeared. Father turned towards me from where I sat on the right hand side of where he sat at the head of the table. I blinked then mirrored his frown, 'I don't want to see that mudblood any more than you do, father.' I commented before turning back to my meal.

'Draco!' Mother hissed on Lucius' left 'Manners, you went to school with that girl so therefore it shall be your responsibility to greet her when she visits.' Narcissa fell silent and lowered her head and sipped her soup. I scowled venomously at mother's forehead before rising and turning on the spot as Lucius called '_Not in the house!'_

Granger jumped from where she sat on an emerald velvet sofa. Good, I like having that element of surprise. I plastered a bored, slack expression on my features before speaking, 'Is there a problem at the Ministry?'

Granger stiffened and stood gracefully. I'd noticed a while back that she was another victim to Madame Bullions Frizz-Ease potion, for her hair was sleek and the loose strands were windswept as they struggled to break free of her high ponytail.

'No, not really,' She replied softly but that hard seriousness settled in the browns of her irises. Her eyes looked sore and bloodshot, knowing Granger she probably worked extra time in the Auror Office. 'The Ministry have reasons to believe that Malfoy Manor has recently been intercepted with Dark Magic, giving the Ministry suspicion about the reformation of the once notorious 'Death Eater' group.'

I rolled my eyes and grinned when Granger shuddered slightly; when I rolled my eyes the change of light rippled across my silver irises and the flecks of gold looked like a tiny snitch whirring round inside of my brain. 'Same old, same old.' I muttered and Granger nodded 'Same old, same old.' She confirmed. We'd been through this what, twelve times?-_Who's counting? - _So the formal procedure wasn't a hard thing to commit to.

I extended my hand and she linked hers around my wrist, her nails clinking against my Malfoy Family Emblem cufflinks. She drew her wand out with her left hand, not her normal wand arm as it shook uncertainly in her palm, and she drew gold lines around our wrists.  
'Draco Malfoy, do you swear to Hermione Jean Granger Deputy Head Auror at the Ministry of Magic, on behalf of your family that the Malfoy family are not engaging in Dark Magic that could have them committed to a life sentence in Azkaban?'

Something cold, like a brain freeze potion, trickled across my brain and made it throb. Hard. I took a deep breath before answering, 'I, Draco Malfoy, swear on behalf of my family that we are not engaging in any Dark Magic that could have us committed to a life sentence in Azkaban.' We waited. Both our eyes were trained on the loops that ensnared our arms. Slowly the coldness in my brain rushed through my body and down the veins of my right arm. The loops turned a vibrant green and disappeared into the air. A Lie Detector Charm. 'Happy now, Granger?' I asked. She looked around the foyer which was decorated with dark black panelled floors; sweeping emerald curtains that touched the Latin Encrypted ceiling decorated with the family emblem and looked down on the leering faces of my ancestors who shuffled in their paintings. They hate mudbloods on their territory more than I do.

'Not particularly.' She muttered 'I need yours and your parents' signatures for the confirmation.' I felt the hairs on my neck stand up, they had apparated behind us. _Oh, so I'm not allowed to apparate in the house but you are? _My mother was running a long feathered quill between her fingers.

'Where do we sign?' she said coldly, however her tone had an amusing air to it. I frowned and realised I was still clutching Grangers wrist and dropped it suddenly. She glared at me when I rubbed my hand on my shirt, metaphorically wiping the mudblood germs from my hand. I heard a few of the paintings snigger. Hermione returned her wand to her right hand and flicked it. A roll of parchment appeared in the air and she beckoned for my parents to move closer. Father took her chin in his gloved hand and turned her face in the candle light.

'Tsk, Tsk, working late again Miss Granger?' he sneered. She pulled her face free and rubbed the bags beneath her eyes.

'Sign here, Mr Malfoy.' She pointed to a line. Mother passed the quill to father. Grangers' eyes trailed after it.

'Like it?' Mother asked 'It was a gift from a friend who helped us prove our innocence at the Ministry after the fall of the Dark Lord.'

'I'd prefer you to use my quill.' She murmured and a red, flame like feather appeared in the air. I ran my fingers over the hairs.

'Phoenix,' I muttered 'A gift from Potter?' She glared and my fingers burned as they brushed the tips of the feather. 'Ow!' I snapped. We turned to my parents who were assessing the document.

Grangers' eyes widened, and then hardened 'I see you won't be using my quill.' And the quill erupted into flames 'Very Well. But I'll bet that person who sent your quill to you was sent to Azkaban for distributing Dark Artefacts and I was glad to be the one that sent Dolores there.'

'Oh how is she? I hope she's well. Give her my best.' Father grinned before signing his name across the parchment. Granger rubbed her shirt sleeve.

Mother returned fathers grin and signed Narcissa Malfoy on the parchment, sliding a long-snake like- tail off of the Y. 'Draco dear, your turn,' I took the quill and glanced at Grangers wrist where a trickle of blood escaped her cuff. Gritting my teeth and forcing my wrist to the parchment I signed. It was blotchy and scruffy but short, DM.

Father glanced at it suspiciously before dismissing it and taking the quill from me. 'And now, our representative of the, err, _diverse_ range of the Ministry.'

Granger blinked.

'_Diverse_?' she choked.

'HE MEANS MUDBLOODS AND HALFBLOODS, DIM WITTED MUGGLEBORN!' a painting bellowed. I racked my brains, if I was heir to Malfoy Manor; I had to learn every name of my ancestors.

'Quiet, Felix!' father bellowed in return. Granger stiffened but ignored the painting and took the quill. _Felix Malfoy?_ She signed her initials and dropped the quill before grabbing her right wrist. Blood was pouring across her palm, thick and fast. Mother grabbed her wrist with her gloved hands and pulled her sleeve back. 'You signed right by the main arteries, stupid girl! Blossom!' the nurse elf appeared and her orbs of eyes widened when she saw Grangers wrist. She clicked her fingers and the blood flow stopped and the cuts sealed. Granger winced. There were scars from last time beneath the slowly drying droplets of blood. The elf bowed low before the three of us before disappearing.

'I suppose Draco should see you out.' Mother turned away from me when I began to protest 'Make sure she doesn't spill any blood on my Persian rugs, Draco.' Hermione pulled her sleeve down sharply.

'That's fine, Mrs Malfoy, I can see myself out.' She walked briskly away, the parchment summoned to her shoulder bag. 'You're lucky I don't report you for assault of a Ministry member.' She snapped. Bashful appeared at the door and the huge oak, again engraved with the Malfoy logo, swung back with a creek. Her back disappeared as she ran down the marble steps, her hair bouncing after her.

'Do not think I didn't notice that, Draco.'

'What?' I turned

'Do not, _what_ your father, Draco!'

'I'm sorry, I beg your pardon father?'

'You sparing the mudblood pain with that absurdly small signature of yours.'

'I didn't want to spill any dirty blood.' I murmured half heartedly, that blood had made me feel like my brain was made of lead. Since Potter attacked me with that curse in our sixth year, every sight of blood makes me dizzy.

'Well she says she's proud of where she comes from, why shouldn't we...' father trailed off when an ear piercing scream curdled the air. My tongue rose to meet the roof of my mouth when I went to say her nickname, but all that escaped was a pitiful whimper of, '_Hermione!'_

* * *

**So that was the first chapter in my first ever FanFiction. I know it's pretty useless but a small bit of pride spread through me when I pressed 'Upload'. So as I said this is my first FanFic so please, please review. If it's bad TELL ME! I need to know these things.**

**Thanks so much! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I hope you like this chapter! :)**

**Hermione**

Fuming, I stormed from the Manor with my head hanging low. I could feel them circling above me. The crows were there when I arrived and they took no mercy when they plummeted down and tried to rip chunks of my hair from my scalp.

They were disgusting birds with vile plucked and malting feathers and harsh hook like beaks. I remember the feel of their talons on my neck and head and the frantic calls they let loose when I shunned them off with my wand. They weren't attacking now.

I stole a glance up to see the harsh black clouds which loomed over the Manor rumbling with unease. It would rain soon. High up in the air the crows were gliding about with their crooked wings and misshapen bodies. Some were poised on the branches of the high, thick trunked Willow tree that towered over the holly bushes which lined the driveway. I hurried along the gravel at a quicker pace and began to call out to the Gate Keeper to open the gates so I could walk straight out of the grounds, passed the Ministry enchantments -which held the Malloy's under house arrest- and home. God, home. It was almost a new home for me. When had I last been there? The milk in the fridge would tell me. I smiled slightly at the thought of walking into my flat above Diagon Alley and smelling the rancid smell of gone off milk.

I worked it out in my head. I'd camped in my office for five days. I was tired, my back ached and I was dying to see Heinz, Crookshanks' grandson. He was staying at Harry's while I worked over time on the Carrow Case. I literally wasn't resting until I found them. And I had. But then, because I had volunteered to be in charge of the Malfoy case I had felt a dark sensation ripple through my body. The Malfoy's weren't allowed out but people were allowed in so any suspicions that Dark Magic and any ideas about a 'Reformation of the Death Eaters' and I had to be there, hence the reason why I was there now.

The wind coursed in a torrent around me, whipping my jacket back and exposing my neck. Tiny pin pricks across my skin made me shiver with discomfort.

"Erm, excuse me, could you open the gates please?" I called, for the gates hadn't opened. "Sir?" I called stepping over to the holly bush which pulled itself back to reveal a tiny alcove where the Gate Keepers Cottage was. Hurrying to the door I bit back a scream. The old man was slumped back with his body against the wall. It was slack and well, deadly thin. His body had tiny slash marks around his wrists and neck. _Where the veins are closest to the surface _I thought darkly. I bent down to check his pulse and found to my horror, but not to my surprise, he didn't have one. But there was something else that was wrong. He had no blood. The marks were red with the excess and ripped skin but by slashing one of his wrists and pealing the skin back revealed no blood left in his veins. I turned him over and pulled his shirt up.

The purple bruise like marks hadn't appeared on his back where the blood would have settled. I came to the sudden conclusion that he was bloodless. Backing out of the cottage and out of the alcove I debated going back to the Malfoy's or leaving. Leaving was the best option. _Walk away; this isn't your field of work. You've dealt with the Malfoy's now let them deal with their Gate Keeper._ But my conscious won me over and I felt my feet back pedal down the drive and towards the Manor.

The wind froze in the air and went still. Then it chorused out a long moan and with what seemed all of its power it lashed in the opposite direction and flushed me back against the rough iron gates. I gripped the charcoal coloured railings and gasped for breath. The wind ceased but the crows began. They squawked as they tumbled towards the ground at my feet and suddenly my vision was made up of feathers and black eyes. I screamed but it was swallowed down by feathers and I grappled for my wand blindly. It fell from my pocket and onto the floor. I dropped to my knees and desperately tried to summon it. "_Accio Wand!" _I cried but I had to concentrate to do effective hand spells and my concentration was more on trying to not get pecked to death. I imagined my corpse lying on the ground whilst the crows gnawed the flesh off of my bones. My spine stiffened and I gagged at the thought.

I grasped the rough vine wood of my wand and raised it to strike the birds but it slipped from my fingers one more as a cruel voice echoed through the mass of feathers.

"I'll take that." An area cleared and a man became visible. No, not a man, a _boy_. He could have been in his last years of Hogwarts but obviously, he hadn't bothered attending. He was wearing a faded Hogwarts jumper though, with faint emerald threads in the corner over his chest but the Slytherin badge had either been ripped from his jumper, or it had teared along with the other scraps of his jumper that were missing.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" I spat and the boy inclined his head making small dark brown ringlets fall across his forehead.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" he replied with a smirk.

"I am."

"I missed the train."

"What are you doing here then?" I thought aloud, was he a relative of the Malfoy's? He was a Slytherin, but he had no blonde hair or grey eyes.

"Getting my master some food."

"Your master?" I repeated, he nodded

"I think you've been acquainted." He inclined his head further and his eyes darted to my right. I rose slowly and turned. A body was slumped against the holly bushes but its eyes were a pair I would never, ever forget. And never have forgotten.

"_Voldemort?"_

The body's heart was visible and it thudded against a ribcage which was ready to break and burst the pitifully wheezing lungs.

"_Syaca nuegurda su hasith?" _I blinked, _Parseltounge, _I thought, _Where's Harry?_ But it seemed I didn't need him.

"You dare speak my name, Mudblood?" the boy said from behind me. The red irises I stared into churned murderously and from what I could make out as he licked his parched lips, he was hungry.

"_Si atha sad sequte pussra." _

"Yes master." I turned from Voldemort in disbelief and faced the boy.

"What is this cruel trick?"

"It's not a trick. Master was happy with the pureblood guard so he says he won't mind a mudblood." I gasped as the realisation dawned on me. I turned to Voldemort who was fading slowly. The boy was also fading and the pebbles at his feet swirled and joined the tornado that was once the form of a tall lean boy. I glanced from Voldemort whose skin was turning black and ripping apart in small cracks. The boy wasn't visible anymore but Voldemort's figure remained with chunks of feathers plastered in heaps over his body. His arms were folded and tiny beaks curled back and beady black eyes opened. Voldemort's arms flew back and the birds scattered. They ripped past me and scratched my neck and wrists and then they landed on me. The weight of them pushed me back to the ground and I let out one blood curdling scream as they drank. It echoed throughout the grounds and even the crows looked up with mild disgust on their fist sized faces. They raised their heads back from my body and cawed a higher scream than my own and flew away. They hated my blood. For a moment I was proud to be a Mudblood. Then my pride was thrown back into my face.

The boy appeared between the storm of wind. He aimed my own wand at me and bellowed, "_Scumtum Sempra!" I know that spell_ I thought, but at the same time, I didn't. I blacked out when the slits opened on my body and thick brown blood drowned my white shirt in thick lumpy squirts of blood.

I rolled my head back in defeat, Mudblood. How creative.

Then everything went still.

**Thanks for reading, please review, I appreciate it :) xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, this is Chapter 3. Sorry it took a while to finish it but i hope you like it! :)**

Bloodlines: Chapter III

_**Draco**_

Its Potter's fault I'm weak. Actually, _everything_ seems to be Potters' fault. His parents dying, Gryffindor winning the house cup, Cedric dying, the War of Hogwarts, oh and did I mention it's his fault I go dizzy at the sight of blood?

I walked briskly down the drive with Mother and Father at my heels. There were crows in the trees and the storm seemed to have come early. The wind battered against our bodies, forcing us back. But we could see something spread eagled on the driveway at the gates. No, not something, _someone._

"Granger?" I called, with no reply. I looked back to see my father's frown chiselled into his pale forehead. We stopped when we each sensed something suspicious flood through our bodies.

"Stories, Myths, Lies." I froze "But I could be wrong."

"Narcissa, dear, I beg your pardon?"

"They were stories from lowlifes." She replied, "Myths He would one day return, lies that He was already back."

"Mother," I began, but my voice was broken and I couldn't summon any strength to it.

"No." Lucius growled "You are right Narcissa. Stories from lowlifes, myths from fortune tellers and _lies._ You know it can just be the Carrows trying to call us back."

"_This is different." _She hissed in reply "_I only felt it like this when _He _was summoning!" _

"She has a point, Father. Voldemort liked the Death Eaters to know who was calling." I muttered softly "And besides, we all thought my old professor, Trelawney, was a fake but it turned out she was right about the whole Grim death omen with Potter and Umbridge's grave danger. Why can't these prophesiers be right too?" I let my words sink in as I fell silent then I realised, I didn't _want _the prophesiers to be right. I should have, being an ex Death Eater and all but I didn't.

We all realised this at the same time and my mother's scream of fury and clip across the ear shattered all logic of my speech. I raised my hand to the three scratch marks on the back of my ear which was starting to bleed when father's distant expression turned into curiosity. "Umbridge was in grave danger?"

I nodded in reply until my shoulders jerked in surprise as my mother smacked Lucius' head and screeched "_That's all you think about, really? Our boy says stupid things and you only think about how a vile woman was punished?"_

"No, she was in grave danger before that, when the centaurs..."I trailed off slowly.

"Merlin, Narcissa! Hold your tongue!" father said "And your hand if you are ready to smack me or Draco again. We have to face the truth, He could be back."

The three of us stood in silence each opening and closing our mouths like fish, but no words vibrated up our vocal chords and we remained enveloped in our own thoughts. The wind had stung my eyes with its bitterness but it had settled during our discussion, like it was listening to what we had to say.

I remembered how during the War when Potter, Weasel, Granger, Crabbe, Goyle and I were in the Room of Requirement and a brief conversation I had with Granger. Her leg was trapped beneath a cabinet that had fallen on her. It was the same damned cabinet I had used with the Death Eaters not a year before so I rushed to her aid in hope she didn't send half her leg to Borgin and Burkes. Goyles' fire animals were sleuthing around an isle behind us because I remember feeling the waves of heat bring sweat to my brow. I hauled the cabinet up and pulled Granger to her feet.

"_Malfoy," _she began but I cut her off.

"_Don't thank me, Granger."_ I remember the mischievous gleam in her eye when she smirked back at me.

"_I wasn't going to." _I remained silent for her to continue _"You're a good man, Draco, you really are..."  
_

"_Granger..." _

"_Just here what I have to say okay? You...huh? DRACO, RUN!" _I blinked at her in confusion before she spun me round, her arm still rapped through mine. A golden snake was coursing like a river towards us with flames reaching out and catching the flammable objects when it passed.

The adrenaline coursed through my veins like it had in that endless room made up of mazes filled with rubbish and antiques. I felt the old burn marks on the backs of my calves ripple and I swallowed. I owed Granger for saving me that night. _Granger...Granger was here earlier...I said her first name in what, ever... Gra..."GRANGER!" _I screamed as it dawned on me why we were out in the freezing wind. Something had compelled our minds to forget her and the scream. I cursed whatever did that as I sprinted the remainder of the drive. She couldn't die on me. She didn't let me die on her so I couldn't let her die on me.

I fell to my knees beside her form and frowned at the canopy of feathers which covered the pebbles around us. Her clothes were in pieces on her body and every visible vein in her body was running with black, mud. Mudblood. Wow was I regretting calling her that or what?

I knew this spell though. Her torso was also slashed with marks (not the inch long marks on her wrist and neck) her body was cruelly decorated with lines across her chest and stomach. I raised a mud blooded hand to my own chest and felt the subtle ridge of my own Sectum Sempra marks. I drew my wand out but before I did I let out all the vile that had risen in my throat gag out of my body into the holy bushes behind me. _Potters' fault._ More crap came but I hesitantly swallowed it down and shuddered. My hands shook as I drew careless lines to seal the wounds, like Snape had, but a cold hand gripped mine like a vice.

"No Draco."

"She can't die, mother. She saved me once..."

"I know. But you'll kill her on the inside if you trap that blood in her system. This needs to be professionally done."

"Ok, I'll take her to St Mungos."

"Good luck, leaving." Lucius said from Grangers' other side.

"Were allowed to St Mungos because it's an emergency destination," I muttered hauling Granger into my arms. She was thin and light but the weight of the blood almost brought us both down to the ground again. Mother gasped.

"NO! She doesn't leave." I stared down at her in shock "Think of the scandal, _Malfoy's Murder Ministry Muggleborn. _That'll go down great with the _Daily Prophet_; no we must keep her here." I nodded and spun to the side. Disapparating with Granger was the hardest apparition I've ever done. We moved through treacle and landed with a thud in the Grand Hall of the Manor. The landing woke Granger from her coma and she stared at the ornate ceiling which was chandelier less thanks to a certain House Elf. Her eyes were glazed over with a smoke coloured cloud which began to clear. My parents appeared in the Hall and bent down over. Her body convulsed and jerked about in an attack and Mother, who had brief healer training, straddled her to keep her still. She slapped Grangers' pale cheek and I winced as if it were my own.

The clouds disappeared from Grangers' eyes and she peered at mothers face. I noticed in that moment that Narcissa's hair was frizzy and dark and her face was contorted into determined concentration. She looked exactly like aunt Bella. Then I turned my head to the lines of MUDBLOOD etched into Grangers skin. So did Granger.

Her scream not only pierced my eardrums, but my heart.

**Thanks for reading, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! Once again, thank you so much for reading **_**Bloodlines**_

**I'd like to give my first reviewers a nice humble shout out so a huge thanks to: Animeloverly31, CRAZYbutLOVABLE, Guest, Nala Moon (who gave two reviews, thanks), Guest, ellinise, littl3cuti3101, FallenLover-1987, nightkitty555.**

**Thank you to everyone who viewed and reviewed I hope you like the upcoming chapter... I do love ellipses'**

Bloodlines: Chapter IV

_**Hermione**_

A sharp collision on the side of my face woke me from the daze. Everything moved into clarity and it was so sharp and bright that I didn't want to close my eyes and return to the dark space I had been loitering in before. Maybe that's what they call limbo. I read about it in Hashford Wockery's _A Distant Realm. _In this, Hashford studies each form of our existence-particularly the mind- and how the tiny fragments of our subconscious can deceive us and test the stability of our brains. I was thinking about this now when my ribs began to ache and I let in a well needed breath. I slowly exhaled until I could see clearer than I ever had before. But I was still hurting.

My body was jerking beneath a weight holding me down. I turned my gaze to the women pinning me to the floor. She had dark frizzy hair and a wicked, curled back lip. Her skin was dry and pale, weather worn. The wind. There was something about the wind. It was pressing against the glass panes of the ceiling high windows which lined the dark wood panelled floor. But there was something else besides that, when was I last outside?

The women drew a shaky, agitated breath. I looked away from her. Something was nagging in the back of my mind. Something I had to uncover soon. I stared at small staircases which lead to a cellar. The room was...wait. How did I know there was a cellar down there?

A cold blooded sensation rippled through my body. My heart thudded against a ribcage that was brittle and weak. My bones were aching along with my throbbing head for me to realise something. The woman's nails were sharp and dug into my already defaced skin. My defaced skin. Mudblood. Bellatrix. NO!

My pulse quickened till it reached its peak. She had me again. I thrashed about for her to release me. But she didn't. My breaths grew sharp and my voice reached a note Opera singers would be envious of as I screamed for my pitiful mudblood life.

Harry, where was Harry? Harry Potter my best friend was here last time. Where was he now? _Ginny's_. The common sense part of my brain said. _He'll be at Ginny's_. Ron, dear sweet Ron, where was he? _Dying in St Mungos, _common sense told me again. _On his deathbed_. I screamed for Harry to wake up from his Ginny trance, I screamed for Ron to leap from his securely guarded hospital bed, I screamed for Draco, who, rumour has it, searched for me when Nagini had chased me into the depths of the castle.

Draco was here now. Watching this cruel ordeal like he had last time. He was on his knees beside me with his hands clutching his ears and his face contorted with pain. Draco blinked and lowered his hands. His face slowly progressed to a painful smile and he reached over and rubbed the sweat from my forehead.

I couldn't hear him over my screaming but I read his lips as they moved. "Stop screaming Hermione. It isn't what you think." _Hermione_. The nicest thing he's ever called me is Granger. Watching him say my first name made my mind slow. It wasn't like last time. Last time it would have been 'Mudblood' or better still, 'Granger'. But _now_ he was calling me Hermione and the lady straddling me wasn't Bellatrix like last time. It was Narcissa _now._ My scream choked out and echoed throughout the Manor.

"Finished?" We three turned our heads to see the broad shouldered Lucius smirking in the doorway. Blossom, the Healer elf, by his side. "I often scream like that when I wake seeing her as well." A smile spread on my lips but vanished when I choked up a vile bitter tasting liquid and spurted it out onto the floor. Narcissa jumped back. "I often throw up such a thing as well." Lucius said with a straight face.

Through the hoarseness of my throat I looked at the elf directly and asked, "What is that?"

The elf looked tentatively at her master who nodded. She then looked at her mistress who nodded. She then looked at her young master who nodded. Then she looked at me. "Your blood, missus." My mouth hung open.

"Blood?" I choked

"Blood." Draco confirmed, nodding. I had propped myself up on the floorboards with my elbows and I began to survey myself where I lay. I had stopped bleeding but the remnants of the thick, dark liquid -like the one on the floor beside me- were still staining my ripped shirt. I probably looked a mess. I sure felt like one. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

"How much blood did I lose?"

"A lot," Blossom murmured. The elf appeared at my side and slipped her bony hand through my pale, shaking one. Her palm was warm against my skin and she handed me a clean rag to wipe my eyes. The gesture was sweet and brought more tears to my eyes. "I'll take her to the spare room." She mumbled and we effortlessly appeared on a mattress with soft beige sheets and a chocolate brown duvet. My clothes were gone and were replaced with a toga, like the one Ron wore in St Mungos, which had absorbency materials to soak up the blood.

"Thank you." I smiled and handed her back the hanky.

"It's ok. You're famous among my people you know." I was taken aback by this so I just stared at her.

"_Famous?_" The elf smiled "_Oh _for being friends with Dobby?"

"No, no, no ma'am. Granddaddy Dobby always hogged the limelight; you're famous because of S.P.E.W." I froze and then burst into a croaky laugh.

"S.P.E.W! _I'm_ famous because of S.P.E.W?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Wow."

"Master Draco told us about it during the holidays."

"He, he did?"

"Oh yes, at the dinner table he spoke about the muggle mothered girl who was trying to do silly things for elves."

"He spoke about me at home?"

"Frequently. No I'm going to give you a Sleeping Draught so you won't feel much." And she slipped a hot mug of a sweet lavender scent into my palms. The heat warmed my skin and I pulled the drink to my lips. The steam moistened my eyes and made them go heavy as the sweet honey textured drink lulled me into a harmonious, dreamless sleep.

When I woke, I was still in the bed and a dome shaped window above the headrest flooded in pools of pinkish light. Morning. I loved this time of day. It's when the dew lingers on the grass and the rays of sunlight burst across the horizon. I sat up in bed, delighted how rebuilt my body felt. I smiled to myself when the Pixie Dawn Chorus erupted and they sang their timid little songs which turned into a choir of melodies and a breathtaking crescendo. I always woke at this time to hear the new sound of the morning. The Freshlawn Sparrows fluttered past in a whirr of green egg shaped bodies. A few missed the sharp turn and dazedly thudded against the windows before hurrying on after their family.

I was laughing to myself at this point when I noticed my sagging pale skin in the mirror across from my bed. I rose and padded across the cream carpet to the mirror and inspected my skin in the reflection. My critical brown eyes had glared at each broken piece of my face and the red marks emerging at the base of my neck. Frowning, I fumbled with the buckle like clasp on my shoulder. The robe fell away and pooled at my feet and I staggered back when my reflection spooked me like a rabbit caught in the lumos ray. My skin was as pale as a patronus and vividly outlined each slash mark across my body. The skin was still healing but I ran my fingers across each line cautiously.

I was a living corpse with a bruised and ripped body. My arms were signed with names which reappeared in fainter forms and my veins were strikingly blue and pulsing with some kind of revival blood healers used.

"Snap." Came a voice from the shadows. Draco appeared with his shirt open and chest on show. His muscles were visible beneath pink lines across his pale skin. I caught my breath in horror as each mark which were each in the direction of his heart rippled scorned his flesh in waves of heat. "Potters fault." He said plainly.

"Do you have something against Harry?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Me?" that was a lie. I had held him against not being at the Manor with me like he promised he would, to save me from more scars. He was a higher authority, Head Auror, and could forcefully make the Malfoy's sign with my quill I formed in my head by law.

"At least we don't have as much as a grudge on him like Voldemort did." He said, seeing through my lie. My eyes widened.

"Voldemort!" I shrieked "He's back!" Draco's face was a whirl of emotion but he shut them out from me with his default plain, bored mask.

"Shut up Granger and put some clothes on." I froze. I was naked. In front of Draco Malfoy. I started making noises in my throat which were pitiful attempts at comebacks. I furrowed around on the floor for my robe but it had gone. It had no use when its patient discarded it. Hands on my shoulders steered me towards to double doors. "The wardrobe didn't fall through the floor." He muttered standing me inside a walking wardrobe. "Most of your clothes are here but mother throughout some and bought you some new ones so knock yourself out."

He turned and left me blushing like one of Mrs Weasley's scarlet jumpers.


	5. Chapter 5

**Yesterday it was Daniels birthday! He was twenty three! It's J.K Rowling's and Harry Potters in one week people! **

**Happy birthday Daniel Radcliffe! The perfect Harry 3**

**Let's sing for him shall we?**

**Happy birthday to you,  
happy birthday to you,  
happy birthday dear Daniel,  
Happy birthday to you!**

**I think I'll dedicate this chapter to Daniel so I'll make it a happy one.  
**

Bloodlines: Chapter VII

_**Draco**_

I didn't mean to behave the way I did. She was just...just... there, I guess you could say. I remember leaving what was now christened Grangers room and wandered aimlessly down the corridors of the Manor. She was beautiful don't get me wrong but why was I always a jerk round her when, well I'm always a jerk around her. I passed through rooms and doorways without thinking and eventually became lost in my own house.

Sliding down the stone wall I brought my knees to my chest. It was midday now so I would have been walking for what, four, five hours? It's pretty awesome to know I can walk round my house for five hours and not go the same way more than once. I kept thinking about what she said though. _Voldemort's back._

How could that be true? _It isn't_ I thought. But the Dark Mark...

I pulled my sleeve back and to my horror the tattoo that had faded was now back to its former glory. The skulls bones were more defined and detailed and the snake that protruded from its mouth was rippling with anxiety and tension. I scurried up from my position and turned on the spot.

Father jumped from where he sat in his armchair.

"Draco, you have feet!" I looked down.

"Discovery of the century." I replied bitterly

"Use them more often." Bashful appeared at his side with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"Why don't you?"

"What do you want?" he asked setting his Daily Prophet onto the side and taking the tray from Bashful "And do your shirt up son." I blinked. Oh, yeah. I fumbled with the buttons and launched into a speech about the Dark Mark.

"Can't you feel it?" I finished

"I shut every emotion out from Voldemort a long time ago and I intend to keep it that way."

"But look!" I ripped my sleeve back, forcing my cufflinks onto the floor. Bashful shrieked when he saw the mark and bent over grappling for my cufflinks. "Leave them!" I snapped. The Elf straightened but wouldn't look at me. Fathers eyes had narrowed into slits as he assessed my arm "Draco..." he was cut off by the sounds of my mother's heels on the floor. She entered fathers study with Bliss, another elf, by her side.

"I would like the emeralds to shimmer in the change of light." She commented and Bliss nodded and disappeared. "Beaux!" another elf appeared, "Make sure the guest list is grand and don't let any riff raff in. Scandal of the century if we had a different blood group than the normal one." the elf frowned

"Normal being?"

"Purebloods of course." Beaux disappeared.

"Baxter!" A bulky male elf appeared "Security must be..." She stopped and all of the tester fabrics fell from her arms "Blossom." The elf appeared "How long until the mudblood leaves?"

"Well for the time being the Body Reformation potion hasn't worn off so I don't know how critical her state will be until that happened so as an average, two to three months." I raised my eyebrows

"Two to... no. She leaves when she can walk."

"But missus, her mental health has been wrecked. If any break of confidence or insecurities mess with her emotion it'll affect the potion and her body will spiral into breakdown instead of recovery." _Break of confidence or insecurities 'Shut up Granger and put some clothes on.' _Mother of Merlin.

"So?" Narcissa snapped.

"So if anyone was to find her the Ministry would find traces of the Reformation potion which sourced from the Malfoy's' batch of medication."

"And how would they know that?"

"Every bottle is allocated to a specific family with changes in each to make them suit the given family."

Father turned in his seat "You gave the Granger girl some of _our_ family medication that suits _our_ family?"

"It was either that or morphine."

"Morphine? Draco what's morphine?" I shrugged

"I have no idea." Mothers attention turned to me.

"Draco Malfoy you put that away this instant!" I pulled my sleeve down quickly Bashful's shaking hands passed me my cufflinks, I fumbled with the clasps hastily before turning back to mother.

"In a month's time we shall be hosting this year's Pureblood Ball. I want nothing to be said on the Dark Lord returning."

"That's what they want isn't it? They're Die Hard Death Eaters, right?" Bashful shrieked and his ears turned a vibrant pink.

"Well they have even come to the assumption that Potter finished the Dark Lord off." Lucius commented.

"We don't want any bother this year, do we Draco?"

"No," I did remember last year. Crabbe, Zabini, Nott (and to my dismay) Parkinson and I all drunk a certain amount of Fire whisky and nearly brought the whole Zabini household to the floor. Good times. "But I don't think the Manor will burn as easily as the Zabini's, it's quite a stubborn structure."

"It takes after your mother." Lucius mumbled sipping his tea. Narcissa shot a beam of green sparks at him and a flood of hot tea sprayed of Lucius who sprang up and dried himself with his wand. His smile was mischievous and Bashful moved behind me. We both knew what was coming...

"Take that!" Father bellowed and a burst of yellow beams shot at Narcissa who screeched "Protego!" and blocked the curse. It rebounded off of her shield and hit an unsuspecting Baxter who began to giggle furiously. Mother and father shot beams of light at each other until fathers curse backfired and both of them fell to the floor in fits of giggles. I remained where I stood with Bashful quivering at my heels. Mother caught sight of my expression and went serious for a moment. "Would you prefer us to fight, Draco?"

"It's more amusing." I muttered turning away. I headed out of fathers study and down the corridors. I thought about trying to find that secluded passageway again but wandering around seemed to boring now. I swallowed and afterthought, headed up the grand staircase and then along another slightly smaller staircase to where Grangers room was located. I rapped on the door harshly.

"Who is it?"

"Draco." I murmured rubbing my knuckles.

"Oh, Draco, come in." I pushed the door forward. She was clothed this time to my relief (at least I would be less of a jerk now) and seated in an armchair facing the overhead window reading what looked like a large novel.

"Oh I see you found the library."

"I stumbled on it when I was looking for the problem."

"The problem?" I repeated

"The spells, I thought there was a duel going on."

"There was, but not between whom you think."

"And who, Draco, would I think it would be between?"

"You would have thought Ex Death Eaters and my family."

"Your family _are_ Ex Death Eaters though aren't you?" I inclined my head and a curl of my scruffy hair fell over my forehead. I pushed it back.

"Well..." I trailed off when she gasped. Her face had gone pale and her hands frozen on the edges of the book. She uncurled her fingers and unravelled her legs from beneath her. She came over to me and reached a hand up to the strand of hair I had thrown back. Her expression was distant as her turned my hair over in her finger tips. My hair wasn't long so I had to tilt my forehead for her to get a good hold. I stared cross-eyed at the hair for a moment before glaring at her.

"Granger, what are you doing?" she blinked and woke up from her trance. She blushed and jerked her hand back. I winced when the hair caught in her nails was tugged from my scalp. "Ahh."

She blushed harder and muttered repeated apologies. "Its fine, it's fine." I murmured, rubbing my head.

"I'm so sorry, oh Merlin."

"Granger calm down I'm fine, but you still haven't answered my question." She sighed and sat on the bed. She began to recount the events of her attack and I listened to every detail including the details on Voldemort and the Slytherin.

"I'm scared to go outside Draco."

"Well you shouldn't be because you've got to go out at some point. When you leave here and go back to the Ministry and all that. Hey, aren't you supposed to be working now?" she stared at me and I realised my mistake. I launched into an apology but she cut me off.

"Your parents told me about the whole 'Bad image for the Malfoy's' thing and I'm using my much needed holiday time off."

"Oh." I nodded

"What about you, don't you work."

"I am." I gestured to the Manor "I work as the next heir to the Malfoy Manor and work very hard to preserve the century's worth of this historical landmark." Even I couldn't keep the sarcasm from my voice. She laughed.

"What do you want to do then? After you're released from house arrest,"

"Party," she laughed again

"After that?" I thought for a moment

"Potions Master."

"At Hogwarts?"

"Are you kidding me? McGonagall won't let me near that place, Beauxbatons maybe, a nice humble girl's school." She grinned.

"Pervert,"

"Get lost Granger you're the only girl for me." I fluttered my eyelashes. We both began laughing and she fell back on the bed. I rolled back and joined her. We stared out of the window for a minute. "Why don't we go for a walk?" I said sitting up. She sprang up.

"Draco, no." But I grabbed her wrist and spun on the spot anyway. We appeared in the grounds and startled a few peacocks. Granger clung to my arm and stared at the skies. There was no wind or any crows to be seen but she pushed the side of her face into my bicep. We walked down the gravel pathways and through the hedge maze. A clearing appeared where a fountain stood with long luscious streams of water billowing about in the air before pooling at the base. We sat on the edge and I ran my fingers through the water. Hermione watched and timidly dipped her fingers in. I watched her hand delve further until she gasped at the pain on her wrists, the open cuts were stinging. I looked round and at an entrance to the maze a bush which blossomed leaves with pink splodges stood and I grabbed a Doc Leaf to wrap around her wrist.

When I turned back, she was experiencing the second attack.

**Well that was chapter five, is it? **

**I'd like to see some reviews so don't be shy ;) all opinions are accepted and any comments on things you don't understand I'd be happy to do my best to help you.**

**I'd also like you all to wish Daniel a Happy Birthday in the reviews as without him; the motion picture would have been a disaster! So give your best wishes to Dan and thank ****Jane Jenkins, Susie Figgis, Karen Lindsay-Stewart and Janet Hirshenson for casting him and the other brilliant actors in the Philosophers Stone.**

**And thanks to J.K Rowling who has inspired generation's worth of people and who without, I would not be on Fan Fiction today.**

**Sorry that turned out to be a bit of an acceptation speech but I had to do it!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I thought I might add another chapter sooner because I'll be away next week in Wales! Then to give you the heads up a couple weeks after that I'm off to Greece for two weeks so the flow of Bloodlines could possibly be slooow. I shall try my best to get more chapters up for you if you want.**

**Thank you to User24 who made my day with their beautiful review!**

Bloodlines: Chapter VII

_**Hermione**_

I missed being independent. I missed walking round my house (or my office) in the morning and making coffee when I wanted it, food when I was ready to pig out and having that morning routine of waking up at seven for work.

I can't really say I felt independent at the Manor. The Malfoy's and even their elves are strong characters. I bumped into three busy elves one carrying a scroll of parchment with names, another giggling furiously and another turning huge fist sized emeralds in her hands against the windows on my way to the library. I felt independent in there. There are two timid little elves named Brain and Bibliophile who expressed great smiles when I entered. I spent a while in there, wandering about the shelves and picking up books that Brain advised to read and Bibliophile found 'riveting' which was how he put it. They placed the hover charm on the stack of books for me and watched them follow me out of the library. I smiled sweetly in reply to Brain and Bibliophiles waves.

My head hurt after my run in with Draco. I had miserably pulled on the closest thing I could find, my own faded red v-neck jumper and a pair of new dark jeans. I had forgotten about my headache in the library but now that I wandered the corridors of the Manor my mind wandered along with me and the back of my scull began to throb once more. I curled up in the armchair, when I reached my room and pulled the book on the top of the pile towards me. Muggle style.

I flipped through the first introductory pages and gripped the edges of the book as I settled into the first chapter of Jose Kracksons _Flowers six feet under_. It looked pretty depressing but it turned out to be quite a good read. The girl had witnessed the murder of her brother and was determined to catch the man that did it. She finds him but unfortunately for her she finds herself obsessing over him and determined to kill him. But the more she tries to kill him and him her, she falls further in love with him. I was reaching the tensest bit of the novel when Draco knocked on my door. I reluctantly gave up on the book and marked the page number in my head.

Talking with Draco was nice, it seemed by his attempt at conversation that he was, in his very unique own way, apologising for walking in on me earlier. It was either that or he wanted to avoid the situation completely. Knowing Draco from Hogwarts, the latter was more suited for him. I really didn't want to go outside. I felt vulnerable out there. So, also knowing Draco from Hogwarts, he dragged me out anyway. It was pleasant at first but I still clung to the only thing normal in my life. Draco was still an arrogant twat. I held his arm stiffly and peaked at the air. Voldemort's fragments of body which were formed as birds were nowhere to be seen. There was no wind either.

Draco lead me through a maze, which without his help I would surely be lost in, and out into a clearing where a marble statue of a great serpent spread beams of water from its fanged mouth. I was in awe at the colours that swirled in magical torrents with glistening of bubbles with varying amounts of colour such as violets, greens, cyan, and teal, pinks, gold's and blends of red and orange. It was so inviting that I forgot the looming Manor made out of the darkest of stone and the high broad holly bush maze daring you to get lost in. Draco swam his hands through the water absently and I watched for a moment before tentatively dipping my palms in too. The water tickled my skin sweetly and pampered each pore on my palms. I delved my hands in deeper and caught a sharp breath when the cuts on my wrist stung and rippled, releasing a thin silvery liquid. Draco turned from me and that's when I felt it again.

The headache was always aching gently at the back of my mind but it flooded into full force now, making my head feel like lead and digging metaphorical nails into my brain. I winced in agony and felt my eyes go blind with fog. I collapsed backwards into the fountain and writhed in pain as all of my cuts and scars seared with the pain of a thousand nettles. I gasped and gulped floods of water and choked it back up along with more water. It was a vicious cycle and I reached for the surface with the small amount of strength I have left. A hand grabbed mine and hauled me out of the water.

"Trust you to almost drown in a fountain, Granger." Malfoy smirked but then my eyesight was lost again and I tried to remember the chiselled Malfoy features of his face but another replaced him in my mind's eye. The boy who had inflicted so much pain on me stood there, oblivious to the fog around him, and turned my own wand around in his palms. I missed my wand.

"Well, well, well, we meet again."

"Unfortunately,"

"Oh I beg to differ; I believe it's rather fortunate of me to come across you again."

"You should be at school."

"And you work."

"I am."

"So am I."

"What? That makes no sense."

"I learn every day, isn't that the objective of school? An institution where instruction is given to those under age?"

"I suppose."

I noticed a few things about him then. His clothes were more ragged and faded than last time and his skin and hair were ripped slightly. I suppose dealing with a thousand tiny Voldemort's was just as bad as dealing with the man himself. Who Harry destroyed not too long ago...

"Who are you?"

"Ma said never to tell strangers my name."

"But we've met before."

"Touché,"

"My names Hermione Granger,"

"I know, mines E.J Ward."

"Ward? Where have I heard that name before?"

"The Death Eater list? My father was a part of that."

"What did he do to make you Voldemort's servant?"

"Abandoned him when he went to war,"

"Coward,"

"Tell me about it. Anyway I guess you're going to say 'Like father like son' when I tell you I'm dropping Voldemort too."

"Why?"

"I've found a new replacement servant."

"Who?"

"Take a wild stab in the dark." he looked around him "Or fog."

"M-Me?"

"Yeah. Once we complete the transition I go back to school and you deal with him. Oh don't worry; he's a delight to work with. Chow." And he turned and the fog engulfed him. Draco reappeared into my vision. Blossom at his side. They both seemed stunned at my conversation with E.J, or the conversation with myself which they must have heard because they couldn't see E.J.

"I shall tell Mrs Malfoy, Miss Granger will be staying longer." Blossom murmured before disappearing. Draco closed his open mouth and stared at the spot Blossom stood at like she was still here.

"Oh I forgot to ask you. Why do all of your elves' names begin with B?" I asked casually.

"Oh no, no, no what happened then?"

"I spoke to E.J."

"E.J?"

"Oh my attacker, he's called E.J."

"Nice to know,"

"E.J Ward."

"W-Ward? I know an Ethan Ward."

"You do?"

"The kid was thirteen when I was starting the Death Eaters."

"Ethan? Did he have a middle name?"

"Jason, I think or James, maybe it was Joseph."

"Ethan Ward...did you know his father?"

"Cascius Ward, he was one of the silent but deadly Death Eaters."

"So he was a good killer?"

"Yeah, what did Ethan want?"

"He was just telling me..." I paused do I tell Draco?

**Does she?**

**Tune in next time folks ;) add your opinions in the reviews down beneath this very text. \/**

**Oh and by the way:**

**On this day, the 24****th**** July, Harry Potter received his very first letter from Hogwarts in number 4 Privet Drive.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok then here comes the next chapter for you! Few things to thank you (Don't worry it's not another acceptation speech!) firstly my main audience seems to be in America, so thank you to all of the Americans overseas who have visited Bloodlines. Thanks to the UK and Canada who follow (my home country and country where my relatives live) close behind and thank you to a few people such as...**

**Tasherella- who basically inspired this very next chapter so can we give giant virtual hugs to Tasherella for planting the seed of idea into my brain :)**

Bloodlines: Chapter VIII

_**Draco**_

"Telling you...?" I started for her urging her to carry on.

"D-doesn't matter." She stuttered and rose suddenly. I grabbed her again when she wobbled and raised a hand to her head "I'm fine thank you Draco,"

"I never asked." I replied, releasing her "But what I did ask was what Ethan asked you."

"E.J didn't want you to hear so he obviously doesn't want you to know."

"And since when have you trusted your attemptive murderer over me?"

"Since always, seeing as I've never trusted you."

"Never? Not even in..." Part of me was slightly wounded at that but I suppressed my initial emotion and turned it into anger. "Where are you going?" I snapped as she walked away.

"The Manor to get my things,"

"No, you can't do that!" She turned back and I blinked. _Why, in Merlin's name, did I say that?_

"And why not?" she asked

"I worked something out earlier. Blossom gave you some of our family medication, made for our family. You've still got it in your system."

"So...?"

"My family is under house arrest. So that means you are too." She stared vacantly at me then before an irritated desperate look crossed her features. She looked desperately at the maze.

"Take me to the gates." she mumbled out stretching a hand. I took it and turned. She released my hand once the gate came into view. Running forward she clutched the railings and shook them. I walked up and placed my palm on the oval of metal beneath the giant coat of arms. The gates swung forward and Granger rushed forward. Not two steps were taken before she was flung back. Into my arms. I held her for a split moment before dropping her. She fell and clawed the earth with her hands. She lay and glared at me before looking down. The area she was lying in was cleared of gravel. There was only mud. Also, there was rotting feathers.

Her breaths became ragged and I immediately bent to pull her away from the spot where she was attacked. She rolled away from me and rose to her feet. She looked over her shoulder at me. No not at me, the hedge. I stared at it too before the wind became violent and swirled around us. She staggered back.

"E.J no, not again!" Granger screamed but the wind or Ethan wasn't bothered with us and flourished past us. It changed direction suddenly and forced the giant gates back. I ran forward and clung to the railings. A small tornado had appeared just outside the driveway. Granger appeared at my side, we looked at each other before looking back at the tornado which to my horror wasn't a tornado. It was a very windswept Ethan Ward.

He looked rough, with bags under his eyes and tears in his jumper and sagging skin.

"I have to keep you safe now Hermione Granger." He called

"Ethan, Ethan what are you doing?" I shouted, he shrugged.

"Nothing that concerns you, Draco." And turned into the tornado and with one last gust of wind in our direction the wind went still. I looked round for Granger to see her walking back to the Manor. I turned on the spot and appeared beside her. I walked in step with her trying to get into her eye line.

"You are telling me what he's got you doing, why he's keeping you safe or so help me..."

"So help you what!" she snapped, stopping. I turned to face her.

"Or so help me I won't let you disappear from my sight."

She raised her hands as if I were dangerous.

"Ooh, you got me there. That threat will be terrible to live with considering we are now living in the same house and are bound to see each other all the time!"

"Ok so it was a pretty pathetic threat, but the Manor, not house, the _Manor_ is pretty huge, I got lost myself this morning." She glared at me then her expression went slack.

"Haha,"

"What?"

"I just realised something."

"What?" I repeated.

"If I'm part Malfoy then guess what?"

"What?"

"I can do this..." she turned and vanished.

"Crap you can." I muttered before turning myself.

She wasn't in her room, any of the bathrooms, the corridors, the grounds. But then as I came up to the Grand Hall double doors, a thought struck me.

I hadn't been in the library for months. I used to be its only visitor but my parents found a use for it during the War so I stopped going. Then when we were officially under house arrests and _she_ started 'visiting' I kind of became obsessed with finding ways of using dark magic to trick her into coming here a lot more than she needed to. It didn't work on my behalf though. Mother practically tortured me for making the pixies blow up the Bubble Baton Bushes in her garden. But even I forgot we _had _a library until the bookworm found it. The entrance was as cosy as I remembered it. A nice little cactus in the corner of a high mahogany desk with an old Japanese lamp and quill holder facing the bespectacled...

"Brain." She looked up startled. Her giant head shook uncertainly before she looked down her nose at me. Ironic huh? Her glasses slid down her face and she pushed them back.

"Master..."

"Shh, is Granger here?"

"Miss Granger informed me not to speak to Master Malfoy on Miss Granger's whereabouts."

"So she has been here, you never leave this room and neither does she." The elf became flustered and rubbed its bald head.

"For a smart elf you are stupid." From the midsts of the library there came a soft call, "Brain," the elf looked round at all of the towering shelves on the first and second floors. Then she disappeared. I lurched forward to grab her but the elf was gone. So was my chance at finding Granger. "Brain I forbid you to speak of my whereabouts." I murmured I heard a sharp squeak on the second floor. I ran to the staircase and cast muffiliato around me. I ran towards the sound of the muffled voices and peered through a bookshelf.

The three of them sat cross legged on a rug. Granger was clutching the Tales of Beedle the Bard to her chest and talking to the elves that faced her. Bibliophile was holding out a hanky towards her which she took and sobbed into it. I listened to their conversation.

I can't believe she decided to keep this from me. I was furious with her decision of keeping what that rat of a boy was doing to her. I paused at the library entrance and backed up into a row of bookshelves. I pulled the top book three books from the right back, then the third row furthest left book and revealed and underground staircase in the stone floor. Going beneath the depths of the manor I cast lumos and walked along the walls of bookshelves filled so that books were even stacked above each other and some lay along the cobbled floor in piles. I rifled through hundreds of them and when I emerged Brain and Bibliophile were drinking hot chocolate in two green armchairs just to the side of the library. I sidled past them and ran from the library. I through open the door to my room and collapsed on my bed with the large black document in my hand. Unlocking the chain I stabbed down the shrieking face on the inside page with my letter opener that was on the desk. The book remained silent.

After an hour of rifling through the pages, darkness had long since penetrated my windows. My eyes never noticed the difference and continued to collect information in the darkness.

I found it. The curse used to lock minds with Hermione and the counter curse for it. There was no way in hell I was going to let her work for Voldemort.

**So that was Chapter seven! Wahoo! I would have put it up earlier but my sister was fretting about Robsten and was constantly checking Tumblr.**

**I kind of hope she didn't cheat on Cedric. Or Dumbledore's Army will have a new target to set their sights on.**

**Review below,**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sooo, first things first. This will be my last Fan Fiction...**

**For a week ;) see how I built the suspense with the ellipses? #bestpunctuation. I'll be away but there **_**might**_** be an opportunity to upload about halfway through the week but I'll be taking a notebook to jot things down like ideas for upcoming chapters and I promise to astound your very minds with plenty of chapters the week after.**

**So without further ado, enjoy **Bloodlines: Chapter 8

_**Hermione**_

For weeks after that day Draco and I barely spoke. He walked me round the gardens every morning at dawn to see the first rays of light but hardly ever said a whisper. Very different to the normal Draco. I'd have even preferred him to criticise me. I just needed to hear something from his silent form. Our arms were linked by the elbows as they were every morning to stable me. And if I decided to disapparate he would go with me.

I hated how my brain was barely my own. Migraines in the back of my head slowed me down and constant worry about E.J and the unsuspecting corpse of Voldemort. Plus there was Draco who infuriated me beyond belief. Anger at Harry who still believed the atrocious lie the Malfoy's made about me taking a holiday. Mr and Mrs Malfoy also captivated a part of my brain with curiosity. Each day Mr Malfoy barely did anything but stay shut in his study, however his wife sauntered round the house, sorry Manor, with curtains and flying parchments and a trail of elves in her wake.

The coldness in the air woke me up during our walks and gave me a boost, like coffee, to last me for the majority of the day which I would spend in my room or the library, where Brain and Bibliophile taught me the Malfoy history and all the stories of their 'Dark Period' as Bib calls it. I had no idea where Draco went in the day. I caught glimpses of him going down an isle in the library but no matter how far I searched through the leaning shelves, I could never find him. He kept his head down and I often passed him muttering to himself. I followed him once when my energy was at its peak, and he wandered round the Manor for hours (my feet were getting sore) and always, out of the three times I followed him, he ended in a narrow passageway with scratches in old English or Latin from the last person who wandered down it on the walls.

It was on an evening at around six when I was staggering back to my room where a tray of dinner would lie on my desk when the curtains that routinely glided shut when it became dark froze halfway. The lamps that glowed when the curtains closed set an eerie half lighted glow along the corridor. I saw something glimmer in the sky just past the glass panes of the window and walked towards it. Placing my palms on the window I breathed slowly, so I didn't fog up the windows to quickly. There was something out there. On a branch. I shivered. What did I hate that perched on a branch? I'd forgotten something, something strange...

It came in a sudden pang of clarity as the creature turned its hooked beak in my direction. I screamed as the memories of Voldemort and the Crows returned. The curtains snapped shut and the lights glared in full radiation. I hit the birds away that weren't there. I flailed my arms about as they attacked in my mind's eye and jumped when chains gripped me safely around my waist. _Safely? _Why did I feel safe? The chains grew thicker and slightly softer on the outside and grew tighter when I tried to run away. Not chains, _arms_. A painted arm. Not painted, tattooed a snake and a skull.

"Hermione be still!" _Draco_. His voice sounded like a symphony of orchestras and I turned in his grip and cried into his neck. His arms fell slack but regained their tightness as he comforted me. "What happened?" he said after a moment.

"The, the crow." I sobbed, his grip tightened like a vice.

"I understand. Hey, hey, it's ok now, right?" I nodded into his shoulder and let his words sooth me.

"I don't think you should be left on your own." He muttered into my hair. I raised my head.

"What?"

"Come have dinner with us." He smiled and held out his hand for me to take. I did automatically and he took me to the kitchens where the elves were preparing the meals to be sent up to the Dining Room and my room.

"Hey, Broccoli?" Draco called steering me through the benches and old-fashioned stoves.

"Yes Mr Malfoy!" An elf called with a huge knife in his hands. He began to chop some carrots and order some sue chef elves around.

"Send Miss Grangers dinner to the dining room. She'll be eating with us this evening." The elf nodded.

"I'll tell Butler." I looked at Draco.

"The Elf in charge of order, Deputy Head Elf."

"D-Deputy Head?"

"Oh yeah they have their own little world down here."

"Who's the Head?"

"Bashful, but he's quite old so Butler will be preparing to take over soon."

"What about Bibliophile? He alphabetically ordered every book in the library and he's great at leading." Draco nodded.

"They all wanted Bib to do it but he declined."

"Oh."

"Hey Bacardi, Belvedere, Booze!" Three elves with steel cocktail shakers appeared.

"Yes Master?" they chorused.

"This one needs a pick me up," he jabbed his thumb at me. Their eyes widened.

"Step this way miss," they pointed towards a...I can't believe it...a bar. I walked over to it and sat on one of the stools. Draco followed suit smirking.

"What do you want miss?" They asked

"Erm, well I don't really drink."

"Trust the know-it-all Granger to be a not be a drinker. Give her a Firewhisky, for now."_For now?_

"Are we drinking later?"

"If you wanna. You haven't lived until you've gotten wasted with the Three's Magic Cocktails. Plus my parents are so depressing you need a little fun."

I looked at my drink that was placed in a crystallized whisky glass in front of me. Without thinking I downed the contents and sorely wished I hadn't. I choked an inferno down my throat and every sense and bone in my body screamed powerfully. It was great. I gulped fresh, cold air whilst Draco laughed at my side.

"The first timers are always the best drinkers." He smiled so that little dimples on his cheeks and creases beside his eyes appeared. He looked harmless.

Bacardi placed a shot glass full of orange liquid in front of him. "The best way to start dinner with my parents," he raised his glass and nodded for me to do the same, my glass had been exchanged for one that looked like Draco's. I raised it up. "Cheers." We both chimed and clinked the glasses. I poured the contents down my throat and let my taste buds test it. It was a soothing sweet taste with the sharp alcoholic edge but my eyesight went funny and tiny pin pricks of colour crossed my vision. Each circle of light turned to gold and it felt like someone was beating a drum in my brain. My head went dizzy and about a thousand thoughts crossed my mind at once but when I tried to think harder on them they disappeared and warped into other thoughts. When my vision cleared and Draco's face reappeared he was grinning like it was Christmas morning.

"Great isn't it?" He asked, I nodded.

"So good!" I drawled "What's it called?"

"The Snitch." Booze replied. I laughed.

"What?" Draco asked

"Harry would have loved to try this." Draco's smile faded.

"Thanks guys." A bell tolled in the background in the kitchen and he steered me away from the bar and up a set of stairs to the ground floor where we hurried to the dining room. "How is Potter, I kind of owe him for what he did in the War."

"No you don't. Harry always say's that your mother saved him in the Forbidden Forest."

"She has her moments."

"Saved by a mother's love twice, huh?"

"Lucky bugger." I grinned. We entered the dining room and I lowered my head. The room was candle lit with a long mahogany table sweeping the length. A grandfather's clock stood by the wall and ticked softly in the background. Lucius Malfoy sat at the head of the table and spoke softly to Narcissa on his left. They stopped speaking when they saw me.

"Draco what..."

"No questions, she needs to be hear ok?" They glanced at each other before nodding.

"The more the merrier." Narcissa said dryly. I followed Draco to the table where we ate the starter in silence and listened to Lucius and Narcissa talk about the ball. Apparently every year a pureblood family is nominated to host a ball in celebration of the year. It just so happened to be next week and be hosted in the Malfoy Manor. I looked at Draco uncertainly.

"Where will I be?" I asked during a pause between the main and desert. When it arrived I ate my cheesecake silently.

"Your room." Narcissa said plainly as Lucius said "The Ball of course!" Narcissa spat out the desert.

"It's a _pureblood_ ball."

"Narcissa, members of the ministry will be attending and if they see a diverse range we may be let off of our charges of house arrest." I kept my mouth shut about the new three months added to their two month remaining sentence.

"The ministry? Won't they suspect something about Hermione?" Draco asked.

"Don't talk with your mouthful. No because they no she is our ministry member."

"Temporarily." I commented

After the dinner, Draco took me back to Bacardi, Booze, and Belvedere.

"All of them!" Draco shouted from across the room when Belvedere asked. I was apprehensive about the whole, Three's Magic Cocktails. But I'll give it a go.

I was handed a list of the drinks:

The White Owl: Smirnoff Vodka, Kahlua and Cream

The Phoenix: Cuervo Gold Tequila, Orange juice, Grenadine

The Whomping Willow: Absolut Vodka, Apple Sour and Lime juice

Unicorn Blood: Absolut Vodka, Blue Curacao, Lemonade and Cherries

Shrieking Shack: Bacardi Limon, Blackberry, Brandy, Orange Juice, Grenadine

Death Eater: Bacardi and Coke

Dragon Blood: Sprite and Grenadine

Wolfsbane: A shot of Moonshine

I blinked. "These really are proper cocktails aren't they?"

"Only the best. So, what will it be?"

"Erm, I'll have a Death Eater."

"Will you now?" his eyes twinkled

"Or maybe Dragon Blood." He shrugged and waved me off

"Light weight."

"It's only early."

"Ok, Hermione. One Death Eater," he paused and smirked at me "And one Shrieking Shack please Booze."

The drink was nice and subtle and I had the amusement of Draco and how his expression dealt with the Shrieking Shack. "How was your Death Eater?"

"Nice and calm, compared to yours."

"Yeah I think I'll have Dragons Blood now, and you?"

"Hmm, alright I give up, one Whomping Willow Belvedere."

"You heard the girl."

Remembering my third year so suddenly was great. The Whomping Willow Hit my stomach and bounced around every available space. Draco smirked when I clutched my stomach and we fell into drunk fits of giggles. After the Whomping Willow I found it nicer to drink the heavier drinks than the 'light weight' ones. We finished with five shots of Wolfsbane and a glass of The White Owl before lumbering out of the kitchen.

We disapparated to the top floor and Draco paused as he turned to go to his room. "Mi Mi," I turned and almost fell over. Draco's hair looked shiny and stiff. I reached up and touched its cold surface I heard a laugh from, everywhere it seemed.

"Haha, no Mi Mi, this way!" I turned again and stumbled into Draco. "Have fun with the suit of armour?" Draco asked giggling.

"He wasn't as nice as my Death Eater." We laughed

"What?"

"What, What?" he giggled.

"What did you want, Dray Dray?"

"To ask if you wanted to come up here?"

"Up where?"

"Up there." He pointed to the wall.

"Go up the wall?"

"No, silly." He drawled and pushed me to the wall. I fell through and landed on a turning staircase, Draco appeared a moment later laughing.

"You should have seen your face! Like the wall? We got the idea from Platform Nine and three quarters. Skrewt Heads." The staircase span upwards and Draco joined me on the stairs. We sat smiling to ourselves until an arch appeared revealing a courtyard beneath the stars above the Manor. It was decorated with climbing ivy and Bulb Bees which lit up the area in tiny balls of light. We walked out and I gasped as Venus came into view above us.

"Venus is my favourite planet." I commented, sighing.

"And why is that?"

"Because Venus is the goddess of..." I trailed off when I got soaked with water. Draco was still pointing his wand at me. "Love." I finished before chasing him round the courtyard.

"That's not fair; you know I don't have a wand!" Draco fell over a plant pot.

"No, I don't."

"Ethan stole it the day I was first attacked." I helped him up and he made camping beds appear with his wand. He dried me off.

"Oh, we'll have to get it back then won't we." I nodded. He fell onto one of the beds and rested his head on a pillow, looking at the stars. I sat opposite him on the other bed.

"It's nice up here,"

"It is isn't it?" Draco regarded me for a minute then opened his arms. I fell into them automatically and hugged him close. We lay like this for a while, whispering things and watching shooting stars glide past. We fell asleep like that and for the first night in a long time. I had no nightmares.

**So that was Chapter 8! **

**I'd like to say that I didn't make up the Cocktail list but whoever did is pure GENIUS. I myself can't try them because well, I'm thirteen. I've sipped some of Mum's Bacardi and Coke though before so I've tried a Death Eater!**

**I shall see you in a weeks time folks!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Guuuesss who?**

**I am so happy to be back! I missed you all, even if I have no clue who you are! ;)**

**Thank you to all of my reviewers and soon enough we will be witnessing the 20****th**** review. The person who has the honour of that, be proud my friend.**

**So as promised...**

Bloodlines: Chapter 9

_**Draco**_

Every night it happened.

Every damn night.

It'd been what? Three weeks since I'd had a decent nights' sleep?

It was getting ridiculous.

Because they were always about Hermione Granger.

The first one started when I was fourteen. Hermione had punched me that evening and I spent the rest of the night thinking about her.

Then it happened in a hurry when the war started. She came to visit me you know, after Harry attacked me in our sixth year. She sat beside my bed in the Hospital Wing and never said a word. All she did was smile. It wasn't a triumphant or a pitying smile like I'd had from Parkinson and Bullstrode. It was a smile. The ones humans (muggles and wizards alike) should always do. And of course with all the shame I had brought down upon me I reacted the way instinct had taught me. Instinct being my mother. I turned from her and went "Go away mudblood, I have open wounds I don't want them to be infected."

Then they came every night.

Then they went.

Then they came every night.

Most of them are of me and her in separate places and I always have a burning desire to get to her. No matter where I am. On the other side of quicksand, the other side of a field, the other side of a god forsaken mountain, it doesn't matter. And every time, magic eludes me, she escapes from me and I wake as if it were real. I've woken covered in mud, grease, water, cuts, bruises, broken bones, scratched eyes and each time I scream my throat hoarse.

Pain doesn't happen when you're asleep. It's only painful when your there to witness it.

But I didn't have a dream that night.

I didn't wake with an injury. Well I did but that was just a hangover.

I didn't dream of chasing her through forests or gladiator rings. I didn't dream of chasing her, because I had her. Curled into my arms with her breath warm and inviting on my neck. A scar was visible beneath her scarlet sweater which was rimmed with a golden strip. But not even a long sleeved jumper could stop those scars from being seen. At last we both new Potters' lifelong problem. At least he didn't have people staring at his chest. A ripple of anger surged through me when I thought of people staring at Hermione like that. With pity. Also I didn't want people to stare at her chest. I flexed my arms as I bristled and she furrowed her face deeper into my shirt. I tightened my grip on her. She felt good close.

Like she was meant to be the only jigsaw piece in my puzzle, she just fitted in. I listened to her soft sleepy breathing as the sun rose over the horizon. What was I thinking letting her come to the ball? She couldn't be locked up in her tower forever. Even the Beast let Belle to a ball, but they were the only ones there.

She was my beauty. And there would be no beasts to call her filthy names or harm her while I'm around. Prince Charming had already arrived to protect her.

And I sure hope I can pull it off.

After she woke we barely spoke a word. Our minds were clouded with the after affect of the alcohol consumed the night before. Hermione had rubbed her head earlier that morning as she woke up and her hair was still sticking out at awkward angles from when she ruffled it. I smiled at her and she gave me a puzzled look through her heavy lidded eyes.

"What?" she yawned in reply, I shrugged.

"You know, for a first time drinker you weren't that bad." She groaned heavily.

"Why do you make me do these things?" she laughed

"Because I'm just so reckless and awesome." I smirked and she punched me in the chest. The punch was timid and I knew for a fact she could throw one better. She shook her hand in pain afterwards and I grinned when she grimaced. Glaring at my laughter playfully she rose and walked towards a little walkway just to the side of the Wizards Walk which was a famous part of the Manor. The Wizards Walk was a secretive place and nobody besides my family-and Hermione- new its location. The Wizards Walk is in the centre of the Manor and hidden beneath the turrets and is invisible because of the high arching faces of the Grand House. It is subtly lavish with marble steps outlining a square courtyard where I practised duels with my father once. Now, mother had lined it with stupid muggle plant pots which appeared out of nowhere when a wizard or witch was about to step on a Celtic symbol carved into a step. They were so old a human's weight could fracture the tale that spun around the steps. I fell over one of mothers little booby traps last night and boy did my shins prove it. I rubbed the pain I hadn't noticed last night due to the intoxication of alcohol.

"You know, Hermione, I was thinking last night when you said you didn't have your wand." Hermione glanced over her slender shoulder at me.

"Umhmm." She mumbled her delicate gaze sweeping across me for a moment before looking back through the little tunnel of rock she was slowly gliding towards.

"You're pretty powerful without one. I learnt I was when Potter stole-"

"Harry!"

"What?" I looked round sharply for Potters face but never found it. Was it that Invisibility Cloak that it was rumoured he had preventing me from seeing him?

"No Draco, his name is Harry, not _Potter." _Satisfied Potter wasn't around I replied.

"I'll call him Harry when he calls me Draco."

"Honestly you pair..."

"Anyway," I cut her off "Can you do hand magic?" she bit her lip and nodded closing her eyes at the entrance. I got up and went to join her. She opened her eyes when I came and held her hand out, which I took without hesitation. We took a step forwards onto one of the slabs. As we took our step Hermione gasped a breath I didn't know she was holding. A flourish of birds swooped in from the air around us materializing from Hermione's exhale and building themselves atom by atom so fast they remained airborne. I smiled as each lilac, violet, cyan, green; every bright colour I could think of coloured bird flourished its wings and darted about us in a synchronised line.

We stepped onto another concrete slab. Hermione let out a soulful note as she raised her left hand. Her fingers tingled bright gold as she trailed them along a thin cylinder that held the archways. Dark emerald flowers of each type of flower curved round the arches until it ended with a scarlet rose on every end. I reached out and touched a petal. I felt the vibration radiate through my senses and I trailed my fingers along the vines that linked them together. Hissing when I cut my finger on a thorn Hermione pulled me a step further. Turning towards me this time she looked up into my eyes. She took my bleeding hand in hers and all the while breathed up towards me. Inhaling her rich sent made a burst of life flood through my Pureblood veins. Grinning I left her soothing breaths -which smelt of toothpaste, freshly cut grass and fresh parchment- warm my insides and heal my shin and my fingers. Gawking in disbelief I stumbled over my words. "How did you-"

In reply she pulled me further. This time she released my hands and cut of the circuit of energy flowing through us. The greedy Slytherin monster inside of me cried for more but the grateful and secretive Gryffindor inside understood and bowed to her for her kindness. No one knew I was part Gryffindor. No one.

With her free hands she held her palms facing each other about a ruler's width apart. The kinetic energy in her body sizzled and fizzled in blue light around her palms. It turned her electricity current into beams which shot across to her other palms and collided with the opposing beam. Bewildered, I watched the beams turn into one snitch sized sphere. Then it grew and turned into a quaffel sized ball and I saw the energy rush from her body in an instant as she pushed it further. But she had shown me enough.

"Hermione, enough!" she blinked and her concentration was gone. The sphere exploded and I lunged forward to absorb the blow. It hit my already damaged torso and ricocheted off of my spine. A thousand voices screamed in my ears and brain each repeating millions of spells and enchantments a second. Hermione was very, very powerful.

Once the blow had ceased to hurt she collapsed into my arms, completely drained of power. She was dehydrated as well. With my hands I formed a goblet in the air and brought the water to her lips. Her surge of energy inside of my body was making my brain move faster and my limbs moved at an inhuman speed. Flickers of spells followed my fingertips and my over thinking brain lit up with an idea. Laying her gently on the floor I held her forearms with my hands. Our wrists met and our veins pulsed beside the others, only a layer of skin dividing them. I breathed slowly above her unconscious form and saw soft blue tendrils snake up her nostrils and through her lips. My breaths provided her with enough energy to breathe properly and soon her lungs raised her chest to mine. I closed my eyes and focused on channelling my new energy back to its real body. I felt each electricity wave pulse through me and physically spark against our wrists.

In less than half an hour, the new energy was gone. I lowered my lips to hers and channelled the electricity in a different direction. The kiss gave us both a new surge of electricity. It even gave us our own inward spark. Her eyes fluttered open and those beautiful brown orbs stared up at me.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty! Merlin, you really are the brightest witch of your age!" she smiled shyly and I brought the centre metre gap to an end between our lips. She responded to me almost instantly, her lips gliding across mine.

"Your pretty powerful to you know." She said as I reluctantly pulled away. My hands were either side of her head as I straddled her. My palms sweating on the stone. "Draco-"she started but was cut off by a shriek.

"DRACO." I looked up. Narcissa and Lucius stood at the entrance to the Wizards Walk where the great serpent was still turning behind them. Heat rose to my cheeks as I pulled my leg over Hermione's body. She sat up but faced the statue of an angel in black marble in front of her. "What were you doing?" Lucius looked at Narcissa abruptly. The situation he thought was happening in his brain was obviously different to Narcissas. The heat reached burning point in my cheeks. I cleared my throat sheepishly.

"Seeing if Granger was still alive. I found her collapsed on the walkway. It would look pretty bad at the Ministry if she was dead."

Lucius' mouth turned into an 'Oh' shape whereas Narcissa scowled.

"Well, I suppose. Sandalphon's Section is not made for weak people, especially weak mudbloods. The angel of power is too much for the likes of her. She is not worthy." Narcissa turned and left the Wizards Walk, her cloak billowing around her. Lucius remained and stared at Hermione's back.

"You're a bright witch with underestimated power. You'll have to find a better lie, Draco." And he followed his wife down the spiral staircase. I looked back at Hermione who was staring at Sandalphon's Statue. He was holding his own sphere in his hands. A sphere made of sapphire stone. I leaned over and kissed the back of her head.

"You are worthy, Hermione Jean Granger." I mumbled into her hair.

**That was chapter nine!**

**I was pretty happy when I was writing it, Sir Chris Hoy had won a Team GB medal, but I thought I'm actually happy because I'm doing what I love. And yeah I might be crap, but making things up is what I love to do. Just as Sir Chris loves to cycle in a Velodrome.**

**If you have trouble picturing Sandalphon go to everyone's favourite search engine and scroll a couple of times till you see him holding a sphere as described above.**

**Good luck to everyone in the Olympics. The whole world's Olympians deserve a gold medal.**


	10. Chapter 10

**So thanks to InceptionJunkie123 for being my twentieth reviewer! By the end of Bloodlines I'm going for it and crossing my fingers for a hundred reviews. But fifty is just as good. So we've got our sights set on fifty and I'm over the moon that I even got one, hope you still enjoy Bloodlines!**

Bloodlines: Chapter 10

_**Hermione**_

It was less than a week until the Pureblood Ball.

Soon enough the halls of the Manor will be filled with Pureblood parasites to sink their teeth into me. It's like they have a sixth sense and they are like cold blooded sharks circling the depths of an ocean. What I mean is, they can smell Muggleborn Blood from over a mile away. Or so it seems to those of us on the receiving end of the Wizard Landline.

Saturday afternoon and Draco still kept his distance. After project 'making sure Granger was still alive' was complete he just shut his emotions down and left me in front of Sandalphon. Who I found was better company than the whole Malfoy clan.

I decided in that precise moment after he kissed the back of my head that I would go to the Ball for Draco. Then as he told me to stay away from him, my whole reason for attending was shattered into a thousand molecules even the best of magic couldn't put back together.

I didn't remember what time it was when I left the little walkway to the side of the hidden garden, but my legs were stiff and cold from sitting on the stone floor and my energy was drained from the power I used. But we had a connection now. The kinetic energy flowing through me was also Draco's. We shared more than he dared to believe but would never admit.

Sighing to myself I wobbled towards the Serpent in the doorway. I made it after ungracefully falling over one of those plant pots that appear out of nowhere. The Serpent turned back down to the top floor of the Manor as I struggled to put my foot forward and walk down the steps and for once, I was grateful for help.

I walked out of the doorway and into a brick wall. At first I thought the doorway had closed on me but as I felt the wall soften beneath my cheek I felt the soft fabric of Draco's polo shirt under my skin. Staggering back he caught my wrist as I nearly fell back into the Suit of Armour. Again.

"Are you still drunk?" he tried to make it sound funny and casual, but it came out snappy and demanding.

"No. Being drained of your power and left on a roof takes a lot out of you."

"Right, you look kind of pale." I turned to the Suit of Armour and saw my ghostly white skin reflected back.

"What part of drained of all your energy _don't_ you understand?" he bowed his head but released my wrist. I fell into the shield of the metallic man.

He stood there and raised a pair of questioning eyebrows.

"Gravity," I answered his unspoken question "Even Wizards haven't found a cure."

"Broomsticks?"

"Never liked them."

"Levitation charm?"

"Doesn't last forever."

"But we still conquered gravity and Muggle physics, so in effect, we have found a cure."

"So? Wizards are better than muggles, I get your argument, but I put my double sided 'Team Muggle' 'Team Wizard' t-shirt in the wash so it's ready for Friday."

"Friday?" I realised what I said as he repeated it for me. I wish I'd walked into a brick wall instead of Draco's chest. I swallowed the lump in my throat and didn't meet his gaze. Staring at the sharply defined lines of his muscles on his tight shirt I answered.

"The Ball."

"The, _the _Ball? You're going?"

"That-that's right. Honorary guest right?" Please tell me I'm not allowed anymore, _please._

"Um, OK. See you Friday." I was about to point out he'd see me anyway, because we live in the same house now, but he had already turned from me. I noticed as he walked he ran a swift hand over his hair which I realised was wet.

"Have a nice shower?" I blurted out to see those eyes again I guess. I saw the muscles contract and expand in his shoulders as he paused and turned to me.

"Yes, thank you. You noticed because...?"

"Well you dripped all over me, it was either a little stuffy in here and you were sweating or..."

"You brought it up because you wanted to know if I was sweating." It wasn't a question. More of a statement of disbelief.

"Well you know, the flu catches, just wanted to make sure."

"I don't have the flu. Whatever in Merlin's name that is."

"Good. Glad we cleared that up. Don't want you sneezing in the guests' faces on Friday now do we?" he inclined his head slightly and I realised as a curl of his fringe fell over his eyes he had dried his hair in a sweep of a motion. He was also shivering. Well he was wearing a polo shirt in winter. "Put a hoodie or something on, you make me cold by just looking at you." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"No. Eat Granger; you're as thin as a twig wand." And he strode back down the hallway. I walked into the centre of the corridor to call to him that there was no such thing as a twig wand when I lost my footing and nearly face planted the velvet rug which lined every hallway in emerald green. After feeling the force of Aresto Momento slack I smacked my forehead into the floor furiously. Another Gravity defying spell. And he called me Granger, what the hell?

Feeling desperately homesick I staggered towards my room with a searing headache and called for Blossom to bring some potion for clearing minds I had read about once in Hogwarts. After I walked into the dark panelled wood of my door I groaned and rubbed my forehead. Shoulder barging the door until it swung open, I had the devastating feeling that I had to use more of my power to unlock the spell set for non Malfoy's on some doors. The pretty Alohamored every frigging door in the Manor to keep me out.

When it complied with my wishes it swung forward and revealed a floating tray full of food. Draco. He knew I wouldn't listen to him.

I circled the tray and headed straight to the bathroom to shower. Glancing back the tray still hovered in the air even though I'd visibly dismissed it. Shrugging off my jumper I walked into the bathroom and let the warm water sooth my chilled bones that had been in the November air all night.

I thought as I stared at the dark blue veins of my wrists when I scrubbed the shampoo into my hair that why did using magic without my wand drain me more than using magic _with_ a wand? I remember McGonagall telling me once that being a witch or wizard was neither a blessing nor a sin. It was a choice. I could have been the weird muggle girl who went to a muggle high school and made things disappear or set on fire. But I _choose_ to go to Hogwarts and learn magic. Without my wand, why wasn't my magic going a wall like it used to when I couldn't control it?

Maybe that's the thing. Maybe I am powerful. Maybe I don't need a wand. As I stepped out of the shower I feebly raised my fingers to my scalp (still healing from the crow attack) and ran my fingers down my hair. It dried quickly and became the bushy mess it was in school. Raking my fingers through it again, it didn't untangle. I took the Frizz ease potion from the side and combed it through my hair. Looking slightly back to normal but with candle wax coloured skin I walked into the giant wardrobe and pulled on some jeans and a shirt. When I left the tray still hovered in the centre of my room.

I watched the steam billow from the hot meat on the plate. Broccoli's food was good, but I really didn't need it. I placed my hand on my stomach to feel it churning as I moved. Swallowing down a strange vile taste in my throat I collapsed onto the double bed with my head throbbing from exhaustion. I didn't need to eat. I was fine.

When I woke the amber rays of the setting sun pooled into my room. My limbs were cramped from lying awkwardly on the top of the duvet and I had to shake my foot a couple of times before the pins and needles wore off of my foot. Yawning and rubbing a hand through my dry hair I squinted at the tray still hovering in the half light. Moaning I walked around the tray and stood above it. It came up above my waist and as I looked down on it the smell of lamb and the heat of the steam flooded up towards my face. It smelt great. The lamb looked tender but gently cooked and the carrots were softly covered in butter to make it sweeter. My mouth watered as hunger crept its way through my body. Shovelling the food quickly, I gagged. I couldn't be full. I'd taken something like three or four large forkfuls of the food. I rubbed the gravy from my chin and took smaller chunks of food. I was full.

The plate was nowhere near empty. But my stomach felt like cement had hardened inside it and it refused to let me eat. Chewing the now tasteless chunks of food in my mouth I tentatively swallowed. It was the wrong thing to do. My mouth seized up and saliva flooded around my gums, every time I swallowed it back, more came. Gritting my teeth I grabbed the plate and carried its contents to the bathroom with me. I tipped it down the toilet and had only a second to spare before the back of my throat retched and I threw up what I had recently eaten. Even when I finished I could taste that vile sensation I had earlier. Rolling back to press my back against the tiles I noticed my kneecaps were bleeding beneath my jeans. Looking round the shattered plate had scattered across the floor and I cupped my hands and let them hover over the area around the toilet that the broken plate. Turning my hands so that they rested against each other, I murmured the words "Oculus Repairo" and the pieces reformed into an expensive Malfoy China plate. I pushed the button in above the toilet and stood to watch everything run away down the hole.

Scrubbing the excess with a toilet brush I returned the plate to the still hovering tray. Draco sidled in.

"I never said you could enter." I grumbled returning to the bathroom to check the toilet. Nothing. I brushed my teeth quickly.

"It's my house." He leaned against the bathroom doorway.

"Oh I'm sorry I was recently informed it was a Manor." I watched him scowl in the reflection of the mirror.

"Why are you brushing your teeth?"

"The lamb got stuck between my teeth." I said but it came out "Tham go t'uck between meeth" He looked over his shoulder at the hovering tray.

"I'm glad you ate something."

"I haven't been starving myself, Draco. I ate last night as well. With you if I remember." He flinched.

"You look so thin though."

"I'm _fine_." _I'm thine._

"Did you lick it clean or something?" he asked staring at the crystal clean plate.

"Y-Yup. The gravy was really nice."

"It stinks here Granger what happened?" I blinked and spat out the toothpaste. My blood stained the white froth. I rinsed my mouth out and rubbed it on a towel.

"Nothing." He glared at me then, his scrutiny verging on boredom.

"What. Happened?" he repeated before startling me with a brisk cross of the room. He pinned my back against the sink and eyed me suspiciously. Then he raised his right hand and with his thumb and index finger in my jaw, tilted my chin back.

"It's gravy." I flustered, how did I miss it? A big brown streak down my neck.

"It sure smells like gravy." He said sarcastically, but there was a serious amount of venom in his expression.

"Well, then. What _does _it smell like?" I said defiantly.

"Vile, dirt and...and..."

"And what?"

"And blood." He finished, tripping over 'blood' as he said it. Had I thrown up some of the remaining Mudblood? I thought Blossom had removed all of the bad stuff. I froze and Draco continued to grip my chin. I shrugged him off with a violent jerk of my head and nearly slammed into him. My skull seared from being hit so many times and my brain was already aching from the drained amount of power, I did not need another collision to set off the migraines.

He didn't drop his hand until after I rubbed the back of my head after hitting it on the cabinet above the sink. His delayed reaction showed me how distant his mind was. But he was still very, _very_ close. I eased away and walked swiftly back into my room. Like a lost puppy he followed rubbing his jaw as he walked.

"Draco this is insane...what did they do to me?!" I shrieked like a banshee and curled up on the floor. Crying into my bloodstained kneecaps I felt Draco thump beside me. His eyes were still hazy and vacant that for a moment he looked like Professor Trelawney and her stupid 'Inner Eye'. Then the fog over his storm grey eyes cleared and they returned to their usual metaphor I used for them. A mist with the sun appearing behind the fog. That's what I loved about his eyes. The little flecks of gold. It made his cold expression soften and spread warmth through me when he stared intently at me. Swallowing I raked him into a hug and felt his stiff posture beneath me, but still huddled him closer. After a while he returned the hug and pulled me onto his lap. Where I proceeded to weep into his shoulder and sob like a child.

He held me tighter and soon I felt motion as he scooped me up bridal style and carried me from my room. I linked one arm around his shoulders and with the other I placed my hand over his heart. The beat soothed me as the regular sound beat out of time with my own badly functioning heart. Draco sensed what I was doing and spun me in his arms. When I rested my head against his left shoulder I felt his heartbeat more strongly against my cheek. I closed my eyes as we stepped down the main staircase in the hallway where everything began and walked straight into the thick of the party preparations. Elves, presumably given names that began with B of all letters, streamed the foyer and adjoining rooms to decorate every inch of the entranceway before guests were lead into a pre-party room and served glasses of Champagne before they were swept down an ornate corridor into a hallway where they could wander about the five rooms given. The large dancing room, complete with an orchestra, the bar, where Booze, Belvedere and Bacardi served drinks and cocktails, the lounging area, for guests to rest, the toilets, which were charmed so that no matter how many people walked into the one square room there was nobody occupying it, the dining room where an extravagant buffet will be laid, courtesy of Broccoli.

It all made my head hurt and I furrowed closer to Draco if possible. He led me through the crowd of panicked Elves and down a hallway to the right of the staircase. A hallway I knew well. Brain and Bib's mouths dropped as we entered, their huge eyes bulging out of the sockets nearly. I opened my mouth to speak but my lips had gone parched and my throat hoarse. Draco noticed this and his grip tightened on me.

"You two. I need all the help I can get." He ordered and the silent elves followed us through the library. Draco rested me on the floor before reaching up and pulling a few books back from the shelf. I couldn't remember the pattern. Top right? Three from the West? Wait I'm confused, west? Bib noticed my frown of confusion and took it for something else entirely. "There is a place where the Malfoy's keep the Dark ones. Like the restricted section in Hogwarts."

"You know about that?" Draco asked as he stared down at the floor.

"Oh yes Master Draco, Bibliophile worked in the Hogwarts library before the War where the Dark wizards ruled." Brain babbled. Draco scowled over his shoulder at the elf before the floorboards opened and sunk into the ground. Draco picked me up and with his right hand he pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos" pure white light glowed from the tip of his wand as he passed into the depths of the library. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust in the dark but I saw a cramped, damp and dark library like the one above but the stone lining the floors and walls trapped the coldness in like a prison cell. And from the chains on the wall I wouldn't put it passed them. Along the way a gate with iron bars lined a doorway. But there was a lock and thick black chains writhing and sliding like a snake to keep it locked tight.

"My parents don't know about that entrance." he said to the hole in the ceiling which rose back up when Brain placed his bare foot on the damp rock.

"So what do we do?" Bib asked.

"Look for anything concerning Hermione's symptoms."

"Which are?" Draco looked at me.

"For a start, insanity." He smiled and I felt my lips tilt up.

"And I also want you to look for something else, something possibly dangerous." He said setting me down against the wall. I felt cold without him near and he pulled the jumper I didn't realise he was wearing over his head. He then held my arms up and pulled it over my own head like he was dressing a doll. I felt instantly warmer and smiled gratefully up at him. I guess he had taken my advice.

"What's possibly dangerous?" Brain asked. His ears tilting up in alarm.

"I want you to see if a horcrux could resurrect a man."

**Well I hoped you liked that chapter!**

**Can you guess who the man is? ;)**

**And are you excited for the Ball?**

**Should Hermione go?**

**If so what should she and Draco wear?**

**Please answer the following in the review box after all; it makes this story better for you. I'll take everyone's ideas into consideration!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter eleven is beginning and no, it isn't the Ball yet but I promise it's coming very soon! You might tell how close it is by how stressed a certain Lady of the Manor is getting! Enjoy!**

Bloodlines: Chapter 11

_**Draco**_

I watched her out of the corner of my eye from where I sorted through the vicious bookshelf and reached for the dark leather-bound book which scrambled away from my hand and bit me when I got to close.

Brain was still bustling around Hermione giving her towels to wipe her face and cleaning the old cauldron which she kept throwing up in. I thought at first it was the alcohol but no alcohol would make someone this bad. Blood and chunks of flesh were the most common parts that she threw up but there were a few tiny bones from what Brain examined as a bone from her _foot _that came up_._ I needed to be beside her, holding her hair back from her face but I couldn't stand the blood. Even from where I stood the metallic taste filled my nostrils like it had in her bathroom. I shivered. Blossom arrived with a drink she had brewed for Hermione but by the time she found us she had to make a stronger potion for Hermione to take. I looked away when she threw up again.

When Blossom had returned and Hermione had sipped some Skelegrow to put back a few of her foot bones and drank a fresh mug of Blossoms potion she brightened up a bit and even let a bit of colour onto her face. I was used to being pale but that was just my family whose skin colour resembled a vampire. Hermione was always flushed in Hogwarts. I gritted my teeth as she threw up and by the look on Bibs face a few bookcases over; another bit of bone had come up. I heard her choke as it came up her throat. The book in my hand bristled and began to burn my fingers because I held it too tight. I dropped it into the 'Discard' pile. When Blossom arrived again with her full healer kit Brain rejoined our search through the stacks and shelves of damp books.

Hermione glanced round the underground library. "Yeah I could live with being imprisoned in a library." She nodded appreciatively. I held a snapping book by its spine at arms length.

"Even in _this_ library?" she shrugged.

"A library's a library."

"Hear, hear!" Bib called.

"It's a wonder why you weren't a Ravenclaw in school, Hermione."

"Oh the hat suggested it, but placed me in Gryffindor." She sighed "I'm not really worthy though." I dropped a lead book on my foot. Cursing in pain I levitated it back onto the shelf.

"_Not worthy?"_ I questioned "_Not worthy? Hermione Jean Granger if you ever say that again I will throw you from the highest point of the Manor do you understand me?"_ She tilted her head before solemnly closing her eyes and nodding.

"Nobody's more worthy than you, Miss Granger, both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor would have been suited to your personality." Bib muttered passing by me to examine the next aisle.

"Thanks Bibliophile." Two houses, she was like me. Sort of. I cleared my throat.

"Bib, Brain." The elves stuck their faces round the sides of the aisles their ears touching the floor. "Go to my room and under the third floorboard from my bed they'll be this trunk which you have to open, the password is 'Flobberworms'. Once it's open pull out the first few compartment levels and once you reach the fifth one they'll be this book. A big black one with a chain around it, I want you to bring it to me." Their heads disappeared. I turned to Blossom who was wiping a damp towel on Hermione's forehead. "Blossom, go to my parents, Broccoli and Butler and tell them we won't be joining them for dinner." Blossom looked from me to Hermione.

"But Master Malfoy-"

"Go!" she disappeared. I fell to my knees in front of her. The smell of blood made me slightly woozy but I focused on Hermione's faintly smiling lips and the electricity between us and I forgot all about my Potter-endorsed phobia.

"Hermione, what I say you tell no one, _no one._ Understand me?"

"Do you have to say that to everything you order me to do?"

"Yes. Do you underst-"

"_Yes Draco."_

"Ok, we don't have much time before the elves come back but I have to tell you this. When you were sorted into Gryffindor what did the hat say about Ravenclaw?"

"It said I was very smart but..."

"That's right! _But._ When I was sorted-"

"The hat barely touched your head."

"I know, I know, let me finish. When I was sorted the hat told me I was brave, _brave_ Hermione but I saw my parents' faces and everything green in the Manor. How disappointed would they be that I had let the Malfoy's down?" she raised a limp hand to my cheek and I raised my palm to hers pressing her hand to my face.

"Draco," she said so softly I barely heard it. I smiled but it looked like a grimace. She flinched beneath my hand and pulled it sharply away from my face. After a second of realisation I lunged forward and scooped her hair back. Looking away I gently rubbed her back as she wretched into the old cauldron.

"Draco," She wined "Draco help me!" I looked round tentatively and to my horror real, _actual_ blood was pouring like a river from her mouth. Gritting my chattering teeth I came to the realisation of what her body was doing. Making room for the- I flinched, for the _bad_ blood. If I tried to stop the flow she'd choke or drown in her own blood. She had to let it go. Hot tears streaked down her face as she moaned through the pain. Soon my eyesight went blurry myself and I found a tear slide away from my eye. I _didn't cry._ _Ever._ For nobody. Snuffling I realised with a sudden pang of annoyance, I had to be brave. I had to release the Gryffindor inside the depths of my mind. To face my fear.

Leaning forwards the stench of blood and sick threatened to pull up my lunch from my stomach but two people throwing up was no help to anybody. Fumbling for my wand which clattered to the floor, Hermione clutched my left hand in both of hers desperately clinging to me. With a shaky hand I pulled my wand up and flicked it at the nearly overflowing cauldron. It cleaned but didn't stay that way.

"BLOSSOM!" I called "BLOSSOM!" my voice was panicky and desperate but I bellowed for the elf even when she appeared a few feet away. "Where were you I've been calling you for ages!" But for the first time in elf history, she ignored my scorn and dashed to Hermione's side. The elf was quicker than me to understand. Her crystal ball sized eyes scarred with grief. Her eyes met mine and she looked taken aback at the tears flowing freely down my cheeks. "Save her Blossom, _save her_." I choked on the last word and buried my face into Hermione's hair. I heard Blossom open her bag and click her fingers. Looking over my shoulder I saw the elf with a small bottle and syringe. Stuffing the needle into the top of the bottle she filled the syringe with a purplish liquid.

"She won't remember." The elf mumbled and plunged the syringe up a vein in Hermione's neck that was a vivid scarlet red. Her veins turned purple as her body sagged and a few drops of blood ran down her chin. I rubbed them with her face with my sleeve and pulled her up. "She needs a bed. Preferably one in St Mungos."

"NO!" I screamed and turned Hermione's body away from the elf.

"I'll never see her again if she goes, they won't let me."

"You won't see her at all if you let her die here!" I pulled Hermione closer until Blossom sighed and formed a bed in the middle of the Library/dungeon. I placed Hermione's head against the pillows and gently lay her on the mattress. Blossom pulled a duvet over her frail form and I backtracked as far as I could go down the library and searched the dark shelves at the end. Vaguely I heard Bib and Brain come back and waited in the darkness whilst Blossom explained what had happened. They called for me quietly like they knew I was listening and I stepped away from the shadows and sat crossed legged against a book shelf. The two elves came to me and mirrored my position opposite me. Laying the book down in front of me Bib reached forward and squeezed my shoulder.

"Let your mind think of something else for a while, Master." I nodded and leaned over the book. We tried our hardest to translate most of it into modern English but the task was long and exhausting. After what felt like days, Brain and Bib fell into a trance. Both staring hypnotically at the book. I closed it angrily and their eyes both snapped up to me.

"Bib did you..."

"Yes Brain I did."

"I did to, Master Malfoy the book wants to help!" I frowned at the two of them.

"No seriously." Bib commented "As you shut the book it rippled." I stared blankly at them.

"A book that has the answer to the readers question answers by rippling when it finds the right page." Hermione murmured in her sleep. We all looked round but she was softly snoring again. Brain nodded as she turned back round.

"Essentially, yes. Open it Master!" Bib nudged her "Oh sorry, Master please open the book!" I stared down at my palm. The book vibrated beneath my skin and I pulled back the cover and wrenched my hand away as the pages violently passed by before settling on a page.

"Blossom come here please," Bib called gesturing to her without taking his eyes off the parchment. The nurse elf shrieked when she saw the words on the page. _A potionem enim Levatio _it was titled_._

"Of _course!_" The elf danced "A potion for revival! It gives the drinker temporary revival for the duration of an occasion! Miss Granger can go to the Ball!" they all danced about but I sat there staring at the page.

"That's great for Cinderella but what does matter if she can go to some stupid dance? What about her life?" I snapped. The elf walked forwards and placed both hands on my cheeks.

"It gives us time, Master, it gives us time."

With this new idea, and my Outstanding (both Newt and Owl) potions skills we proceeded to make the _potionem enim Levatio_. I had to traipse back and forth to the Greenhouses out in the grounds to search for the different ingredients.

"Okay, we have the Dried Billywig Stings, the Horklump Juice, and the Jobberknoll feather, the Lethe River Water, the Unicorn Horn and the Valerian Sprigs but where are the Mandrakes?" Brain asked scratching off the ingredients on a spare piece of parchment as I she went through them. I was searching the Potions Storeroom in the Cellar for what felt like the tenth time.

"I told you, there aren't any in the Greenhouses and there aren't any _leftovers_ in the storeroom." Brain nodded tapping her quill against her chin.

"Mandrakes take months to grow, but if there was a place where we could get some fully grown ones on short notice that would be great." Hermione had been under a strong Sleeping Draught for the past two days, with only five days to brew the potion we were running out of time. We had shipped in some Billywig stings from Croatia because the apothecary was out. We had everything, but the Mandrakes. I thought distantly back to Hogwarts where in my second year I had to wear these vile fluffy pink earmuffs to drown out the cry of the Mandrakes.

We left the storeroom and paced up the steps until we emerged in the middle of the bustling crowd of elves making centre pieces and drawing maps for seating arrangements. Bib appeared in the crowd ahead of us and we hurried to him. Lowering his voice so none of the others could hear, Bib told us about his conversation with the Head Gardner elf, Bamboo and his deputy, Begonia.

"They said their last batch died out."

"_Died out?"_ the elf nodded. "Ok, is there any way you could get me some parchment and ink I need to send a letter to Hogwarts. Oh and Brain," the elf turned back "Get Hercules please." Hercules, my Golden Eagle, would be up in the highest chamber, overlooking the Wizards Walk and if he wasn't snoozing in his den then Brain would have to sprout a pair of wings to catch him. He was the fastest bird I'd ever seen and he was as loyal as a puppy.

"Draco!" I cursed under my breath as the elves looked up in alarm before burying their heads lower into their work. In the sea of waist high elves my mother stormed across the room to me. Her brow was wrinkled with stress and her hands dried out from being overused. The bags under her eyes suggested she'd spent the night going over the guest list again. "How dare you miss two meals in a row! Where have you been?"

"Busy. Careful mother, you're actually becoming a Banshee." She glared, that's right I can turn on the Slytherin against my own mother.

"I have had it up to here with you this week!" she raised her rough hand above her head "You ungrateful little swine!"

"Well, well you're starting to sound like one as well." She slapped me hard across the face and stormed off with a trail of elves in her wake. I passed by portraits on the way to my room and heard glimpses of "Disrespectful...in my day...women work _so _hard and that's how their repaid...rude, arrogant...who does he think he is? Lord of the Manor? Not while Lucius is still around."

"Oh, Shut up you two dimensional cardboard cut outs." I snapped storming up the staircase to my room.

After offending my whole family tree I screamed into my pillow in exasperation. Bib appeared with my supplies and I stomped over to my desk and dipped the quill in some ink. I wrote two letters to Hogwarts.

_Dear Professor McGonagall,_

_Due to unexpected circumstances, we are in need of healthy fully grown Mandrakes to brew into a potion. As we have no saplings available I turn to you for help. I know you do not wish to have the slightest concerns with my family but I ask as a former student if you could sympathize with us enough to lend us some of your produce._

_Many thanks,_

_Draco Malfoy._

I signed it with a flick of the y and waited for the ink to dry by writing the next letter;

_Dear Professor Neville Longbottom,_

_I hear you have a high post in Herbology and wish to congratulate you on your success. I know I have never been a friend of yours and have been particularly spiteful in the past but I am in need of your help. I have informed Professor McGonagall that a beloved member of my family has fallen ill and we are in no supply of Mandrakes to sustain her. We would be eternally grateful if you could put the past behind and help me out._

_Kindest Regards,_

_Draco Malfoy_

_P.S if accepted could we acquire a fully grown healthy Mandrake, thanks._

I hoped he didn't hold a grudge from Hogwarts and would help us out. I tied the letters to Hercules' talons and scratched his beautiful feathers. I watched the bird fly away into the sunset and wished him a safe journey. Then I ran to Hermione's room and grabbed a book of her shelf and sat beside her on the bed. I then continued to do what I had been doing for the past three days.

I read to her while she slept.

_**Hogwarts**_

_**Neville**_

The letter came while I was in my room just off of Gryffindor Common Room. As head of the house I had a spacious room decorated like my old dormitory. Gryffindor were doing well this year, and with Teddy Lupin taking in his Adoptive Father's footsteps and being a first year seeker we were doing even better. I sat reading the Daily Prophet and sipping a hot steaming mug of coffee (it was cold out in the grounds) when I saw the bird before it landed against my window ledge. It was luxurious with long hooked talons and thick expensive parchment in its claws. I ran forwards and opened the window. The bird hopped into the warmth with one great swoop of his wings and perched on the arm of my scarlet armchair eyeing the hot Cornish pasty on my plate. I untied the letter and threw the pasty into the air. The bird leapt up and caught it in his beak, making pastry rain over my head, before perching on the Candelabra in the corner. I unravelled the letter and read. My eyebrows rising higher as I read.

There was a knock on the door and I brushed pastry from my hair and walked to the door. Harry Potter and Professor McGonagall were at the door. I let them in and they took the spare seats by the fireplace. McGonagall eyed the bird in the corner which eyed her back. Cats and Birds, I thought to myself and smiled at the thought of a little tabby pawing at the base of the Candelabra to reach the huge bird.

"Good evening, Neville, trust Malfoy to have an expensive bird." Harry said bitterly warming his hands in the fire.

"You got the letter too?" I said offering the tray of tea I conjured up. McGonagall took the cup and sipped it; satisfied the bird had no interest in attacking. I looked up and saw it cleaning its feathers.

"No, Professor McGonagall did and informed me immediately, as she so rightly should have done."

"But I read in the Daily Prophet Hermione Granger had the Malfoy case."

"She does, but she's taking a well earned break." At the sound of his masters' name, the bird flew to the top of my chair. I tensed in my seat.

"Oh, so who do you think is the ill family member?"

"Well I'm tempted to go and see for myself, but I've been informed that a Pureblood Ball is in preparation and with the ministry about the entire ex Death Eater clan will be milling around the place." McGonagall, who had remained silent, cleared her throat and turned to me.

"I want you to send the Mandrakes back with the bird in the morning, Professor Longbottom."

"What?" Harry choked on his tea, jumping up when it sloshed onto his lap. He cleared it and sat back down. The bird ruffled his feathers above me.

"Yes, Professor." I complied with a sorrowful look at Harry who was straightening his glasses. The lightning bolt beneath his fringe gleamed and he rubbed it slowly. "It's hurting again isn't it Harry?" he blinked and looked into the embers of the fire.

"How's Teddy doing?"

"Edward is doing very well. Answer Professor Longbottom's question, Mr Potter."

"I have headaches."

"Okay and..."

"I really should be getting back to Ginny, if I can't persuade you to not send them I guess I should go."

"Goodnight Harry." I smiled rising and opening the door he bowed his head to Professor McGonagall before slapping my shoulder. "Goodnight Neville." And he left.

"That boy never got on with Malfoy did he?" McGonagall asked, rising too. I shook my head. "Oh well, goodnight Professor Longbottom."

"Goodnight Headmistress." She left through the door after Harry and I closed it. Looking round the bird cocked his head at me.

"What?" it tilted its head further before flying to the top of my four poster bed and curling into its feathers. I stood as it slept and slightly dazed crawled into my bed and with a tentative look at the shadow on the post I fell asleep.

**Did you like the little extra bit I added with Harry?**

**I kind of missed him a bit so added him in and hoped I got his reaction perfect.**

**Let me know what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Anybody want some more?  
First of all I have a series of apologies to give out. First of all I'm sorry for being away without giving you any notice, I tried my best to finish this chapter before I went away but as you can see, it didn't work. My second apology is for my horrific writing at the beginning of this story. I re read the story on holiday and I personally thought my writing has improved but the fact that you're reading this chapter means you stuck it out. Through all the crap. Thank you very much for your time and reviews. I hope this chapter is one of my better attempts **

Bloodlines: Chapter 12

_**Hermione**_

According to Draco when I woke up, he'd received fresh, in their prime Mandrakes from Hogwarts. I was slightly startled at this as I had consulted Professor McGonagall on several occasions about Draco. She felt that no matter how persistent he was, or how good at potions, she would not influence an ex-Death Eater onto her students. I agreed with her then, but beside the haunting memories and that vibrant tattoo on his forearm, every ounce of Death Eater was simply obliterated out of him. So be that as it may, why would Professor McGonagall send someone she disapproved of something to help him, even though she distrusts him?

I frowned over this as Draco appeared with a large bottle in his hands at my doorway. I sat up in bed. He walked over to me and sat on the mattress with his back to me. The mattress creaked under his weight but if you looked at him, you wouldn't think there was anything to him. Skin and Bone, as they say. His hair was tinged slightly from bending to close to the flames to get the most accurate temperature for the potion and his face was flushed and beaming crimson red. His lips looked parched and chapped as he ran his tongue back and forth across his lower lip. His eyes stared blearily out at his feet and I know the flecks of tears in his eyes were from chopping the Mandrakes-Neville told me in the second year that he had helped Professor Sprout chop them up which ultimately resulted in crying- and he twirled a silver spoon between his long cut and stained hands. I reached out for one and pulled it close to examine. Brown splotches sunk into the depths of his skin and the cuts sizzled and scorched as they reacted with his magical blood.

"You need to get this out." I said as I rubbed my thumb across the back of his hand. He nodded solemnly.

"Bibs getting some of mothers Vanishing Draught."

"Oh." I smiled at him in the reflection of the mirror his eyes caught mine before he lowered them again. The bags hung off of his eyelids like Harry's Money bag, heavy. He blinked slowly. "How long have you been up?" I asked.

"Too long,"

"Draco!" he flinched

"Merlin, you sound like my mother." I stared at the back of his neck sympathetically and swallowed as the tips of his scars protruded from his neck. I crawled forwards across the duvet and hugged him close. I pulled his head to my shoulder and felt his soft breathing on my neck. I rocked him back and forth until his breathing slowed and his eyelashes fluttered closed. Then he woke with a forced start.

"You need your medicine." He snapped and filled a spoonful of the potion from the bottle and raised it with a steady hand towards me.

"On one condition." I murmured, he frowned but nodded.

"Name it." I rolled back and pulled the half empty bottle of Sleeping Draught back with me.

"You take this and sleep until you naturally wake up." He swallowed

"Only if you drink this." But I was already letting the potion run down my throat. It soothed my insides as it went down, cooling the hoarseness of my throat and brightening my eyes with that old clarity they used to have. My brain felt like a cool tidal wave had flowed through it and it worked at its usual pace like it always should have. I tasted it on my regained taste buds.

"I know that potion..."

"It's also known as the Mandrake Restorative Draught, but we know it as _a potionem enim Levatio_ or a potion for revival."

"I drank that in the second year!"

"Yeah when you got your sorry ass petrified." I laughed. So did Draco, but he was too tired to put all his effort into it.

"Your turn..." I implied, taking the spoon from him.

"Hermione..." I was already pouring the contents into the spoon "I really..." he stopped suddenly mid sentence as I forced the spoon into his mouth.

"Just take it you stubborn mule!" He smiled as his eyes drooped. I pulled the Mandrake bottle from his grasp as he slumped onto my mattress so it didn't slosh all over him. Corking both bottles I placed them on my bedside table and hauled Draco's softly sleeping form up so his head rested on the pillow beside me. It was his turn to be looked after now. I got out of bed and got a damp towel from the bathroom and returned to gently rub away the sweat on his forehead. I continued to clean the whole of his face and scrubbed at his hands but the brown splotches didn't come away.

"Horklump Juice." Said Bib from behind me "Does a terror to the skin." He came forward and soaked the towel in the Vanishing Solution before wrapping the towel around his hand like a bandage. Narcissa appeared at the doorway with her hands on her hips.

"Wait, little elf, what did you say you needed my..." She trailed off as Bib pulled the cloth back and the brown splotches appeared on the cloth, not Draco's hand.

"D-Draco?"

"It's okay, Mrs Malfoy, it's just a Sleeping Draught." I mumbled as Bib circled the bed to do Draco's other hand.

"Well, why does he need it? And I was aware that _you _were _ill_."

"I was...I am. That potion helped me so that I could go to the Ball."

"Is there an actual reason why you want to go?" I began to nod but froze, was there? Looking round at Draco I realised I had no real intention of going, but he's put so much effort in, so he obviously wanted me to go. Right?

"I see." Narcissa answered my unspoken reply "Well if you're going you'll need something to wear." I looked up sharply, "And you look positively awful." I smiled, that was practically a compliment coming from Narcissa.

"This way," She smiled with a gleam to her rich black eyes. I stumbled after her, leaving Bib to fuss over Draco. Slightly apprehensive I weaved down corridors after her trailing cloak and side-stepped elves until she froze in front of a charcoal black door with the Malfoy crest protruding out from the smooth surface. Murmuring apologies as I tripped over an elf's foot into Narcissas brick wall of a back.

"Salazar." She said proudly with a sneer at me. The door clicked and swung forward. Peering over Narcissa's bony shoulder I saw a large circular room with a mirror lining the curve of the wall. Following her in I looked up to see hovering candles floating daintily beneath a navy blue ceiling. The door swung shut behind me. I lurched forwards and pressed my hand to the mirror that had replaced the door. It vibrated beneath my fingertips and as I stared into my own reflection a faint angelic voice spoke in time to the vibration rhythm.

"Narcissa, she needs more than help." The voice hummed. I jumped back in surprise. Narcissa laughed behind me.

"Laurel, you have such nice manners." From the part of the mirror where I had placed my hand I looked closer to see that a point was forming out of the mirror as if someone was poking a pencil through cling film. The point curved of and a nose and a pair of lips shaped like cupids bow emerged from the surface. Seconds passed and Laurels face was visible. Her flawless skin reflected me from every angle and as she stepped forward her bare feet touched the stone silently. Bewildered I watched the woman walk out of the mirror and smile faintly at Narcissa.

"As do you, Narcissa." Laurel tilted her head to me. "This one has a name?"

"Girl will be fine." Narcissa commented. Laurel laughed.

"Okay, Girl it is." Laurel paced round me and I tried to straighten the faded t-shirt over a pair of old cotton trousers that I wore to sleep.

"Persephone, Antony!" Laurel called in almost a sing song fairy voice. In slightly less amazement I watched a girl with long braided hair step out of the mirror, her body lean unlike Laurels and she had strong muscular legs. Her beautiful face beamed at me.

"She's not _that_ bad, Laurel." She commented, bowing slightly to Narcissa. After Persephone a man with broad shoulders and a tall metallic torso emerged. His hair was short and sleekly combed to the side. His cold silver eyes watched me sharply, even though he had no pupils I could just _tell _that his eyes were trained on me.

"Not bad at all." He smiled reaching out his hand. Trembling slightly I raised my hand to his. His fingers were sleek and surprisingly warm beneath my shaking ones and I watched in awe as he raised my hand to his gorgeously sculpted lips. His lips weren't damp but the soft feel of them was so lifelike I had to close my eyes to imagine him as a real person. I opened them as he pulled his lips away and gently released my hand. "My names Antony, Girl." He frowned and turned to Narcissa. Seeing myself in Antony's back I noticed how red I had gone. Laurel began to snigger behind me.

"Narcissa, must we really call her 'Girl'?" Narcissa glanced at me.

"Yes, Tony!" Laurel snapped, suddenly annoyed at his concerned face. He glared viciously at her.

"Nobody was asking you." he replied coldly. She fell silent.

"History," Persephone mumbled in an undertone to me and if she had irises I would have laughed at the way she rolled her eyes. Instead I watched the room spin in them, it made my stomach churn. "You don't want to know."

"Well, you should call her Girl unless you see something more appropriate like 'Mudblood', is that better, Antony?" He froze before shaking his head.

"I'll be back at nightfall. Work your magic, my dears." Persephone curtsied as Narcissa left, her beautiful reflective legs crossing over the other.

"She's not royalty." Laurel sniggered as Narcissa disappeared.

"Sometimes Laurel, you need to learn how to notice sarcasm." Persephone replied calmly turning over to me and taking my hand. She ran her fingers over my skin before muttering "Rough" and then smiling up at me as she dropped my hand. "My names Percy." She grinned.

"Hermione." I muttered softly. She grinned wider.

"We don't like long names, how about Mione?"

"Or Mi." Tony called over Percy's shoulder.

"_Girl_ will do fine."

"Oh Laurel, go sniff Narcissas ass." Laurel bristled in her reflection on Percy's shoulder. Tony laughed at his own handy work.

"Both of you shut up!" Percy called. I watched as Laurel turned and faced the mirror surrounding the wall. "Mione, I like that." Percy mumbled.

"So, what do you think, Mione?" Tony asked, pulling Percy back to get a full view of them both.

"I think, I think..." I stumbled "You're all, _amazing!_" Tony and Percy beamed and even Laurel stifled what I can resemble as a smile. "You're beautiful and _flawless!" _ Tony pointed a finger at me.

"Hit the nail on the head," he grinned.

"We're the Flawless Reflections, and we're going to help you look great for the ball!" Percy squealed.

"The Ball? As in _The _Ball? That's not until next week!"

"Oh no, Girl, it's tonight." I froze.

"No time for that, no time for that!" Percy squealed bustling me back until I reached the mirror. I was just processing '_Flawless Reflections'_ when my back hit a cold surface, it suddenly felt hot and melted beneath my weight. Tony waved.

"See you later, Mione!" he called before walking swiftly into the opposite side of the mirror. As I watched Laurel walk into the right hand side, Percy's metallic hands pushed me further into the depths of the mirror. It was like a warm shower until we reached the other side. Marble stone lined the room with black marble tiles and white marble walls. A long bath with golden clawed feet sat to one side, or rather scuttled as we entered, with long serpent taps and a walk in shower with a black screen and white shower head lined the back wall. Percy instructed me to strip and get into the shower, which I did and immediately felt the relief of warm water flood my dry skin. Percy followed me in with her arms full with bottles and soaps. She handed me a certain mixtures of liquids from brightly coloured bottles on a harsh flannel. I scrubbed down and suddenly felt all the rough skin and dirt from three nights' sleep run away down the drain and as Persephone switched the tap off my body remained sleek and soft. I glided after Percy as we left the shower and she handed me towels to dry off with. She disappeared through the mirror as I dried myself off and assessed myself in the full length mirror. Okay so I wasn't any petite like Laurel or lean bodied like Percy, but I was looking better with fresh pale skin.

I sighed as my scars, cruelly visible, destroyed the whole 'flawless' effect. They dragged from my left shoulder down to my right hand side like claw marks and I felt strangely foreign in my own body. Trailing my fingers over the harsh skin, I never noticed Persephone return. She raised a bowel of incense to my face and fumes of a lavender scent filled my nostrils. My drooping eyes opened in alarm at the visitor behind her.

Tony raised his hands in surrender. "It's ok; you've seen us in our former glory! And I'm only here to carry you."

"_Carry me_?"

"Sorry sweetie but I'm not very strong." Percy mumbled "But you'll benefit from what's going to happen, I promise." Tony walked forward and squeezed my shoulder, "Is she ready?" he asked but my eyes were already closed. He caught me before I hit the tiles and scooped me into his reflective body. I remembered being lowered into a sort of hole made out of hot rocks which invitingly soothed my skin as he lay me down. Tony smiled and squeezed my hand before closing a door with the same pebbles I was lying on. The heat pressed against my distorted body and I remembered my eyes closing to sleep a dreamless sleep. When I woke, a harsh white light broke into my warm cave. As Percy helped me out I squinted into the light.

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah, is it supposed to relax my muscles?"

"Yeah and work a bit of magic. See for yourself." She turned me to the mirror and I clasped my hand to my mouth to hold in the scream. My body was pale and unscathed. No scar lined my torso. Nothing sizzled and burned my flesh. I was pale; I was perfect, I was _normal_.

"Shame it's only temporary." Percy sighed. It was a shame. I shrugged.

"Isn't everything?" Temporary sleep, temporary revival, temporary flawless skin.

"Shame you couldn't do anything about my skin tone," I smiled

"I was instructed by a certain clothes designer, not to touch your colour, even though you look like a glass of milk." I laughed and hugged her. She looked slightly surprised, "Thanks!" I cried and released her. She smiled and took my hand.

"This way!" she called and skipped me down to the bottom left wall. Placing her palm against it the wall formed into an archway she dragged me down and motioned for me to sit on the table. Laurel appeared through a different wooden slide door and closed it gently behind her. She pursed her lips.

"Better." She muttered before handing Percy a box. She held her own against her hip and opened it on the table beside me. "Lie down." She snapped, I did so and between the pair of them they stripped me of hair from the neck down. It was painful but the result made me look even better than before. They filed my nails and plucked my eyebrows before Laurel pulled to bottles of jet black nail varnish from her box. They pulled the brushes out and then left them hovering in the air. The bottles began to magically paint each of my nails, not a smudge outside and waited seconds for it to dry.

"Perfect." Percy piped.

"Not quite." Laurel replied pulling me from the table and through the slide door.

"I'll see you soon, Mione!" Persephone called before walking out of the room through the mirror. As I was dragged through the slide door I glanced over my shoulder at the mirror and happened to witness a shock of bleach blonde hair slightly messy from sleep. I didn't have time to contemplate further. The slide door we walked through turned out to be a walk in wardrobe one wall lined shoes and the other lined with dresses and ball gowns of every shade and colour. She pulled me to the end where a manikin stood alone. I caught my breath and nearly fainted with excitement. The dress was black and made of satin silk. It had a long purple cut like a lightning bolt from the left side of the corset down to the knee length hem. I gasped again in amazement. Laurel handed me some underwear which I put on as she removed the dress from the manikin. Stepping into the pool of soft fabric at my feet I gently pulled it over my body. It fit perfectly against and its wrinkled surface flowed warmly down my legs. I couldn't help but smile as I saw myself in the reflection. My pale skin and the rich midnight black contrasted against the other to make me resemble some sort of marble statue. The vibrant purple slashed across my chest and made the ripples across the corset and skirt look like the tides in an ocean in the middle of the night. Beaming to myself Laurel suppressed another smile and handed me a pair of shoes.

"Gladiator Heals." I took them and stared at each strap.

"This is going to hurt, right?" she shook her head

"I've had the liberty of breaking them in for you," she smiled "Hermione."

"Thanks,"

"But any way," she said circling me "It's not going to hurt as much as this." And rather abruptly, she pulled the silk straps of the corset back. I caught my breath again. For a different reason. The dress squeezed my ribs together and I thought about how much my torso would ache afterwards. But part of me didn't care. I was so excited; I'm going to a _Ball._ Visions of my fourteen year old self gliding down the moving staircase towards the handsome Viktor Krum flooded my brain. I remembered his appraising and hungry look that he revealed and then hastily concealed with a warm smile as I approached. Maybe I could feel that girlish blush and butterfly filled stomach again, how would Draco react when he saw me?

My lungs had now adjusted to the change of baggy t-shirts to tight corsets. I smiled. My hair was damp and straggly from the shower and smelled richly of each aroma Percy massaged into my head. I casually raised my hand over my hair. The ends lengthened from their natural curl and dried to a soft and silky texture against my shoulder. Laurel turned with a hairdryer poised in mid air.

"Ok, I'm just going to..." She trailed off "M-Maybe not." She waved a hand and the hairdryer sank back into a draw. "No one likes a show off." She grumbled striding forward with a row of hair pins clutched in her hand like Wolverine from the X-Men. I do love Muggle films. Not when there portrayed with a vicious thrust at me though.

"Wizards," she ranted pulling my dark hair into curls on top of my head and pinning it in. "They _always_ show off. Don't know their doing it half the time. "_Sorry, is that too much for your incapable little power?"_ Yeah, Magic is Might my arse." She nearly thrust a pin through my scull. "Oh and you know what else gets me?" she asked wrenching my head back.

"W-What?" I supplied.

"_Supporters of Wizards _like that _Saukerl, Tony." –_German translation for non German folk, _Saukerl=_Bastard-

"Talking about me again, _Schwein_?" –_Schwein=pig- _Tony called as he flounced into the room. _What's with the German?_

"You were mentioned."

"You know," he said ball room dancing with the mannequin. "Most hairdressers talk about holidays, not rant about their boyfriends in German." I cried out in pain as the tip of a hair pin scratched my scalp.

"_Boyfriend?" _She screeched_ "_Who the hell do you think you are?" Tony, who had frozen mid spin answered over the mannequins shoulder.

"I believe I previously stated who I thought I was, careful darling you're paying too much attention to me again, keep your eyes on your work." He laughed spinning the mannequin 360 degrees before catching her as she toppled over, like in the movies. He leaned down and stroked her porcelain cheek.

"I like women when they don't talk back." He sighed placing the mannequin back where he found her.

"I don't believe you! First off you hate me and gawp at _this_ then you're suddenly insulting me and calling me your girlfriend." Tony whose eyes suddenly became full of laughter shrugged.

"Mood swings, I guess." Laurel jabbed a very sharp looking hairpin in his direction. I heard the gasp of her intake of breath to scream at him when Percy's bored voice filled the room.

"Laurel, for Merlin's sake, he's pulling your leg." Laurel turned to Persephone.

"W-What?" In Antony's chest I saw Percy nod her head in his direction. Tony began to choke back the laughter but gave up erupting in a slightly triumphant howl of laughter. Laurel nearly pulled my hair out.

"_Sie unertr__äglichen Arschloch!" Why did I take Muggle Studies?-You insufferable arsehole-_ I seriously regret learning German at school.

"Oh there's no point in that, _my dear, _German doesn't make you any calmer in tone." He laughed.

"Yeah, how do you speak German?" I asked. All three fell silent. Percy stopped calming Laurel down, Laurel stopped ranting in German and Tony stopped laughing.

"Well...we...well..." Tony began.

"What do you think?" Laurel snapped.

"Did you think we were _born_ like this, _Hundin_?" –No way am I translating that- I shrugged.

"I didn't even know you existed until earlier!" I said in my defence. She grappled with my hair as she rather roughly paced a raven hairpiece in the beautiful curls and waves of hair tied up in a carefully constructed up do. She yanked the side of my fringe and twirled round a wand resembling metal stick. My hair heated up immensely and I held my breath as it neared my flesh. She released it and my hair twirled down my cheek.

I breathed.

"We are human."

"_Were_." Percy corrected.

"We were like Squibs," Tony explained "But we could do more magic."

"They called us the half breeds."

"Like a Centaur?" Laurel stopped blinding me with hairspray.

"Did you just compare me to a horse?"

"No, not like a Centaur." Percy mumbled nodding to Tony to go on.

"We were like half bloods, half muggle half wizard but we had complications during birth not conception."

"What do you mean?"

"Wizards, even though some disagree, are made so by their blood. It is the one thing we need to regain our powers if we need to or if we lose, we become weak."

"So there was a problem with your blood?"

"Kind of," he glanced at Laurel and Percy who had stopped to watch what he said, and then his eyes bore into mine. "We weren't born with any."

"S-So you were made into mirrors?"

"Harsh." Laurel grumbled.

"Sorry."

"Whatever, we were given something to keep us alive." He hesitated glancing at Percy's concerned gaze. He warily turned back to me.

"A type of blood." My mind raced through hundreds of magical text books.

"Unicorn Blood!" he nodded solemnly. "And do you know the price you pay for that?"

"A million galleons?" Laurel said sarcastically.

"A cursed life?"

"Exactly." He bowed his head.

"We were three of a kind. Laurel from Germany and Tony and I from England."

"Three of a kind." I repeated.

"Yeah, it was hard to live with. For me anyway." Tony murmured.

"Yeah, same." Laurel agreed.

"And there my dear Mione is where the foundation of a relationship began." Percy sighed.

"What?" That came from all three of us.

"Well you know two suicidal teenagers. The connection must have been instant."

"W-Weren't you suicidal?"

"It's hard to kill yourself when you're locked in a room each and every day."

"Oh."

"But trust me I tried."

"So after you tried to kill yourselves, you became mirrors?" Tony laughed.

"No. Trust me it wasn't pretty."

"When we hit a certain age, we began to change." Percy began.

"A certain age? Like fifteen?"

"No, why fifteen?" I shrugged.

"Well, you know, when you hit puberty and your body changes," I nodded "Well we," she gestured to the three of them "Began to reflect things."

"If you want the gruesome version I have great metaphors for the tearing of skin." Tony winked. I shook my head.

"No thanks."

During this conversation Laurel had remained tight lipped adding dashes of makeup and perfume that made me smell like a walking tulip. She decorated me with jewellery and stood back to see her handiwork.

"Finished." She huffed placing hands on her hips.

"Thank God for that, I thought Tony was ready to recount the screams clawing their way up his throat again."

"It's not clawing its grappling with razor sharp claws up my hoarse throat."

"Oh sorry I should have remembered." He glared playfully at Percy.

"Don't you have a client to attend to?" Laurel snapped at Tony who was assessing the underwear draw in an amused expression.

"Yeah but I'll give him another hour in the Pit."

"The Pit?"

"That little pebbly hole you were in," Percy explained.

"Who's in there?"

"Who else needs some scars to disappear?" Laurel grumbled.

"Oh." Tony who had began to stare blankly at Laurel from where he crouched closed his mouth that had been hanging in an O shape and looked over at me.

"You and Draco, is something going on?"

"Why would you care?" Laurel snapped suddenly but he didn't hear.

"That's none of your business Tony." Percy said so I didn't have to answer. What _was _going on? Was I even still with Ron? Was Ron even still alive?

"Why do you care?" Laurel said raising her voice "It's not like she'll ever drop her pants for you."

"I don't care and considering I spent the last few minutes imagining you in this," he waggled a clump of lace at her "I wouldn't think it mattered if she did or not." He threw the underwear in the draw and slammed the draw shut. Hauling the slide door open his angry energy drained out of him.

"Master Draco?"

"I heard raised voices." But his eyes weren't on Tony. They were transfixed on me. His mouth slacked slightly but soon turned into a wonky impressed smile.

"Well, look at you."

**Thanks again for sticking Bloodlines out and I promise it will all become clear in a few chapters as to why it's called Bloodlines and I hope you will enjoy it. In my opinion this is the best chapter yet! It took me 11 pages to right so sorry if that was a lot of scrolling for you to do **


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm so sorry it's late! Forgive me?  
Thanks for your reviews!  
Here, my friends, is the Ball.**

Bloodlines: Chapter 13

_**Draco**_

I winced as the pin Tony placed in my side scratched my skin.

"Ah,"

"Sorry," he murmured pulling the pin out of the blazer fabric.

"You should have had this done ages ago."

"You wouldn't comply, ages ago."

"I was busy."

"So was I, making your suit." I looked down from the podium at him. He looked up at me. I sighed, defeated. "Touché,"

"So," he began, dragging the word out to break the uncomfortable silence "What's going on with you and Mione?"

"Tony!"

"I'm just curious Laurel! Merlin, get over yourself." I shrugged and he threw his hands up in exasperation. Pins fell to the floor at my feet.

"Oh for..."

"Tony don't you have some heavy things to lift?" Laurel said striding over and taking the remaining pins from his hand.

"Did you miss this week's Weight Watchers then, Darling?" he asked lifting her feet of the ground. She stabbed him with a pin. I was amazed to see the pin bend and snap against his skin.

"_Arschloch_."

"Love you too," he said setting her down before walking over to a sectioned bit of the wardrobe where shoes lined the wall.

"Draco, shiny leather or just leather?"

"Semi shiny,"

"What in Dumbledore's name is that?" Laurel made an eye gesture that resembled rolling her eyes.

"Get normal leather and polish it you idiot."

"Oh staying British now, my dear? Choose your country love." I winced as a pin stabbed my armpit.

"Right that should do it. You can take the jacket off now." I slipped it off of my shoulders. She took it over to a sewing machine and whispered orders to it. It began to sew in the correct places of my jacket.

"Where is Hermione?" said Tony walking out of the 'Shoe Shed' with a box of shoes and black shoe polish on his cheek. Laurel flounced over and rubbed it away with her hand.

"Never you mind, baby." She said in a pitying voice before slapping him hard across his cheek. He straightened his jaw and thrust the box at me.

"My mother is giving her what she calls 'Etiquette lessons'."

"Could Hermione be any politer than she already is?" I shrugged.

"She's been to Balls before, but my mother is just paranoid she'll embarrass the family." I replied slipping my feet into the shoes. Tony bent down to tie them.

"She's nice, Hermione, isn't she?"

"Tony, if I didn't know any better I would say you had a thing for the Girl."

"And what is it you know better?" he asked handing me the Malfoy crest Cufflinks. Laurel froze as she opened a cupboard with ties for every colour and occasion.

"Well you..."

"Well I...?"

"Well you must know there's no way to be with her if your just you."

"Doesn't that defy every relationship rule and corny film lines 'Be yourself'?"

"I mean you as a mirror."

"Same thing."

"Is it?"

"Guys I have a deadline here!" I called. They closed their bickering mouths and turned back to their work. Laurel closed the cupboard and stepped up onto the podium with me. Lifting the collar of my crisp white shirt she wrapped a deep black tie round my neck. I tied it swiftly as Tony handed me the freshly sewed blazer and Laurel clouded my lungs with musky cologne.

"Done." Laurel beamed pecking my cheek.

"Oh so your allowed to like other guys?"

I nodded to them as I left but they were in the middle of an argument. I shut the slide door behind me and walked straight into Percy.

"Watch where your...Oh, it's you."

"It's me, what are they doing in there?"

"Nothing you haven't heard before." I huffed. She nodded and turned towards the daunting mirror in front of us.

"I'll escort you out." I nodded and took her hand.

"I hate this part." I grumbled as I neared myself in the mirror. Percy rubbed her hand across her stomach. It was like one of those infinite things. She bounced back and forth between mirrors until she was only a little speck above her navel.

"So do I." We passed through with grimaces and as we reached the other side, we laughed at the others' disgusted expression. "Right, then." She said rubbing invisible dust from my shoulders. "Say hi to Melanie for me."

"Mel-?" I caught myself; of course mother would give Hermione a different name.

"Will do." I replied passing through the door, human style.

"Mrs Malfoy is this really necessary?" I leaned against the doorframe.

"Repeat it!"

"My name is Melanie Hillcrest. I come from a pure blood family but I have no magical training which is why I have a_ mudblood sense of mind and presence._" _What..._

"Lovely to meet you miss Hillcrest." Fathers voice drawled "And why is it you had no training?"

"We lived in a Valley out in the countryside that is un-heard of to muggles and has never been visited by wizards. My father forbid contact with the outside world."

"And how come you're here today?"

"I escaped. And the first person to find me was Draco and his family, they very generously let me live in their house and let me eat their food and for that I am eternally grateful. They also taught me the rights and wrongs of magic. I am now stable so there won't be-"

"Will not be!"

"...So there will not be any dangers around me." I walked through the doorway I had been leaning against and clapped my hands.

"Well done, mother. You have come up with a _fool proof_ story to convince our guests." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"You're late."

"No, no, mother. Have you learnt nothing? It is '_You _are_ late.'_ Not 'you're late.'"

"Don't use that tone with me boy!"

"Ah, ah aah!" I waggled a finger at her "Do-"

"That will be quite enough, Draco." Father said calmly. I laughed to myself and caught the end of Hermione's stifled smile.

"Come on then, _Melanie_." I called offering my arm out. She came over and I slipped my hand round her waist, pulling her close to me. "We have a Ball to attend to." I paraded her out of the room with mother and father close at our tails, or dress hems, as the back of Hermione's skirt seemed to go down in a V shape and trail along the floor. Mother barked commands like "Hold your chin up, _UP!" _and "Stand _straight_! You look like Draco's first wand."

"I sat on it." I answered Hermione's unasked question. She nodded and smiled. We arrived at the top of the grand staircase. Hermione caught her breath. The rooms ceiling was floating with orbs of a pale misty light and a candle like glow illuminated in the centre. Between the floating candle orbs hovered vibrant green emeralds which glittered as the sun went down. The room was cleared and the paintings polished so that the floods of guests could all squeeze in before being ushered on into the main party. I walked down the staircase and stopped halfway down.

Almost automatically I straightened my posture and raised my chin, with my hand still poised at Hermione's side. My other hand held onto a serpent waist high staff which father had handed me. Lucius himself placed a hand on my shoulder and the other on Narcissas left shoulder as they stood a step above us. Hermione and mother placed their palms on the soft wooden banister at their sides.

I could see the nerves on Hermione's face.

"Draco," she whispered when mother and father were talking to Broccoli about some kitchen disaster, "Is anyone from Hogwarts coming?"

"Well, yeah but they won't recognise you."

"How do you know?" her voice was so full of nerves and doubt that it came out distorted and slurred.

"Pardon?"

"How do you know?" she said more calmly.

"Because you're Melanie, not Hermione, and you are a completely different person." I winked at her and turned as the large doors opened. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hermione straighten her shoulders and pout slightly. I smiled to myself; I had complete faith in her. Guests of all Pureblood shapes and sizes flooded into the room. Some short, some tall, some fat, some thin. But they all had one common factor as we looked down on their upturned faces. They were all in awe of the Manor and the people who lived in it. Elves bustled out in clean linen handing roses to women and Firewhisky to men. Children got little clear balls that when bounced, a tiny firework display erupted inside of them. A purchase from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" father barely whispered. The crowd fell silent immediately. "Witches and Wizards! My family and I welcome you to the 83rdAnual Pureblood Ball!" the crowd clapped and more tiny firework displays popped up here and there. "Tonight goes as follows," Lucius continued "Dinner will be served at half past eight, until then, feel free to explore the Manor and its grounds. Dancing will go on until the very last clock chime at twelve p.m. For our musical entertainment please welcome the very finest Denselton Deletrius band!" this welcomed a few cheers from the crowd. I sent a sneer at mother who was against having the rock band because of the half-blood drummer.

"So without further ado, please enjoy this fantastic celebration of our dominant race."

"_Hardly_." A voice called. I knew that voice. The A's were exaggerated when spoken and I knew for a fact that the I's and E's were spoken in the same exaggerated way. My eyes swept the crowd before they landed on a man with a red velvet cloak and navy blue tie tucked into the belt of his grey skin tight trousers. He was middle aged with greying brown hair and a receding scalp. His hair was made into a crown of spikes reaching high for the emeralds above him. His long bony fingers were weighed down by loop after loop of metal rings with stones incrusted in them. Excen (pronounced Zen) smiled lazily at me, before sending a tentative glance at Hermione. "We are hardly a dominant race if wizard kind is only living and breathing because more muggle children have magic blood." He then winked subtly in Hermione's direction and I felt her stiffen beside me.

"As always Mr Triek your opinions amuse us." Mother chuckled. The crowd, believing slowly that it was a joke murmured uncertain laughs. Excen remained silent. Father clapped his hands together in one raucous _thwap_!

"So, off we go!" and the crowd departed down a decorative corridor off to the side where they could roam around enjoying the party. Mother and Father bustled off to speak to some guests. Hermione and I stepped carefully down the staircase to the ground floor. People glanced at Hermione as they past some with appreciative nods of their heads, others with wary, envious, glances.

"Good evening."

"Wow, who invited Dracula?" I turned to Excen who had his hands held stubbornly behind his back. His dark blue eyes swirled in amusement.

"The fact you know who that is proves to me that my previous statement was true." Again, he glanced at Hermione.

"Sorry, I forgot you two haven't met. Excen Triek, meet Melanie Hillcrest." I introduced them. Hermione, with a glance at Narcissa's back, curtsied with her legs bending across the other slightly. Excen bowed and in doing so took her hand and kissed it. _Crap_, I thought, _that's it we're screwed_. The naked eye wouldn't see it if it wasn't looking for it, but I was. Excen's irises churned rapidly. The royal blues intertwining with the navy. His pupils expanded so that the iris became barely visible and the white of his eyes became red and bloodshot. It all happened in a heartbeat. Excen's lips hadn't even left Hermione's skin. He gave a disappointed look at me.

"I am an old friend, Draco, and you dare tell such lies to me?" he placed his hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"Nothing is a secret around you."

"Why should you want to?" he smiled "Forgive me, Miss Granger," he began lowering his voice as purebloods past close by "I, as Draco said, am Excen Triek from the beautiful lands of Holland." His chest swelled in pride. "I have the unusual gift of reading people at the touch of the hand."

"Lovely to meet you," Hermione smiled "Is that your profession, Divination?" Excen scoffed.

"No, no, no I can't be doing with all that codswallop about the Inner Eye; my profession is Head of the Ministry department of Magical Sciences."

"Excen explores the magical beings and why we are so _magical_." I explained. Hermione practically shrieked.

"That's where I know you!" I raised my eyebrows "You wrote _The Chemistry in Potions_!" Excen's face flushed with flattery.

"That was one of my finest works." Hermione smiled in awe.

"You are the reason I passed my O.W.L in potions!"

"Well I do anything I can to help the younger generations." I lagged behind as Hermione and Excen strolled along together talking about science. Whatever that is. I placed my hands in my pockets casually as I followed their backs down the long corridor towards the music that had begun to play.

"Master Draco?" I looked down. Bib was balancing a tray of champagne on his little bony arms.

"Yes?"

"Erm, Blossom is in the lounging area serving snacks, she wanted a word." I raised my eyebrows.

"Did she now?" he nodded

"Something about and Hermione's lifeline," My mouth sagged in an O shape.

"Don't let her get to cocky sir. She thinks she owns you. I guess its Mr Dobby's blood but don't let her make the orders." He called over his shoulder as he wandered into the dancing hall. I passed through small crowds and whipped my wand out as an elf dropped a tray of Firewhisky over the floor. The elf looking frightened at my wand tip started babbling about something knocking his balance. I flicked my wand and the glasses fixed themselves and refilled with Firewhisky. I took a glass and downed it. I might need all the alcohol I can get.

"Be more careful." I said when I could breathe again. The lounge area was flooded with elderly wizards warming themselves by the green bowls of fire in front of them. I greeted a few as I passed and avoided the eyes of others.

"Blossom," I called when I neared the elf. She looked up as she lowered the tray of sausage rolls to an elderly gentleman in an armchair. He took one and turned from her without a thank you.

"Master Draco," she bowed. I glanced at the expectant pureblood faces around me.

"Mother specifically asked you to serve the pineapple slices _first_ you little runt!" she gasped.

"S-Sorry." She hastily mumbled rushing away to the kitchen stairwell. I smiled in return to the satisfied faces and straightened my jacket. I followed the elf into the servant's stairwell and found her sitting on a step halfway up the spiral staircase. I went up to her and sat on the stair below her sideways.

"Sorry about that." I glanced over my shoulder as I heard the door click open. I waited for the footsteps of an elf to disappear before continuing.

"What can I do for you?"

"Mr Triek called me over outside. He knows things, sir. He read my mind and I was thinking about Miss Granger's situation."

"What about it?"

"The potion won't last forever. Not even all night. We need to think of a solution to work on so she isn't in too much pain." I nodded.

"I know a lot of things about the human body, Master Draco, especially wizard bodies. I know that when the body has been affected, the white blood cells are on guard as they fight the infection." I continued to nod.

"But with wizard blood..."

"The guard is stronger?"

"Yes. This means if we tried anything else to save her the body would fight us, even though were not a threat." I stopped nodding and rubbed the crick in my neck. "But," she continued "Because the body indentifies potions better, it lets them work their magic."

"And this makes the blood cells drop some of their guard."

"Yes! You've got it! What we need is to know what we and Hermione's body are fighting. To do that we need the blood cells to be down so that we can find the source of the problem..."

"And work on ways to solve it!" I cried bringing the elf's head down and kissing her wrinkled forehead. She smiled. My own smile faltered.

"H-how do we find the source of the problem?"

"That's where Mr. Triek comes in. He reads her and searches her body for signs of where it is most destroyed and what virus is eating her alive." I raised my eyebrows.

"You think that's what's happening?"

"I know that's what's happening."

"I'll talk to Excen, well done Blossom. I owe you!" I called as I ran down the stairs two at a time. I tripped on one of the steps and landed into the door. I straightened myself and plastered a grim, bored expression on my face. I sauntered out and felt the eyes of the crowd draw to me.

"Drakey!" I staggered as a body slammed into mine and arms wrapped around my neck. "It's been so long!" a girl's voice sobbed into my blazer. I met Goyle's eye over Pansy's head. He shrugged his meaty shoulders.

She pulled away and glared at me through a curtain of her fringe. "Why haven't you come to visit me?" Blaise, Nott and Goyle laughed.

"Because I'm under house arrest." I said bluntly passing by her and slapping hands with my old friends.

"Oh, I thought you'd gone off me."

"That would never happen." I drawled winking at Theo as I said it. He laughed.

"Who could go off you, Pansy?" he asked mischievously.

"That's what I thought!" she replied. Blaise froze as he shook my hand and began to crease up laughing.

"Erm, Draco?" I stopped smiling and faced Goyle.

"Yes?" he jutted his fat head behind me. I turned. Hermione's beautiful form stood beside Excen who was staring at Pansy intently. His irises churned and I knew he was delving deep into her thoughts. A disgusted expression crossed his face and he looked away.

"Draco, we heard you wanted to speak to me?" I nodded and walked over.

"Yes, I did. Come this-"

"Err, Draco?"

"What?" I cried exasperatedly. Pansy had cocked a hand on her hip and pouted.

"Who is she?" Hermione gave a start as Pansy pointed her wand viciously at her. I nudged the tip down to the floor.

"Grow up," I grumbled. "This is Melanie, she's staying with us."

"Oh well you better keep your hands to yourself, _Melanie_." She barked. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, I know you." Blaise called standing from where he sat on the back of a sofa.

"You do?" Hermione asked looking puzzled.

"Yeah, did you go Hogwarts?"

"No, I was homeschooled."

"Right well, your blood group?"

"Pureblood of course." He nodded

"Sorry, you look like someone I used to know?"

"Like who?" Theo asked

"Granger, Hermione Granger." My world froze around me.

"No I heard she died." Goyle grumbled

"No you idiot she eloped with that Assistant in her office." Pansy remarked.

"No she moved to Bulgaria to live with Viktor Krum." Theo stated.

"Whatever the mudbloods doing with her life she certainly isn't in my house." I cried pompously. How different did she actually look if people from _school_ couldn't even recognise her?

"Right I'll catch up with you later." I mumbled having no intention to. Excen and Hermione followed me to the other side of the room. We sat in some armchairs and an emerald fire illuminated in the bowl on the glass coffee table. I recounted my conversation with Blossom to them in an undertone careful of my words encase I upset Hermione. Excen had relaxed back and crossed his leg over the other. He placed one hand on his chin and the other over a chain watch that hung from his coat. I watched his thumb rhythmically rub the golden casing. It was hypnotic and I blinked as I began to feel drowsy. My mind began to feel heavy as if there were someone else inside.

"Get out!" I called. People turned and I flushed when I realised I'd shouted. "Is what I told him." I added. People turned away back to their conversations. Excen looked surprised.

"I should have never shown you how to notice me." He replied. Wrapping his fingers together.

"When do you want to read me?" Hermione asked

"Later, enjoy tonight first and meet us in my father's study." I said to Excen. He nodded and rose.

"I fancy a Shrieking Shack." He mumbled as he left on his way to the bar area.

"Would you like your Death Eater?" I asked. She shook her head and laughed.

"Not the drink. I want my Ex Death Eater." I grinned and offered my hand to her.

"Would you like to dance?"

"Please." We left the lounge area and entered the Ball room. People danced to a fast Denselton track and I pulled Hermione into the crowd. The record changed and they played one of their slow songs. I placed my hands on her hips and began to speak in her ear.

"You alright?" I whispered. She nodded into my shoulder.

"I am now." I smiled and hugged her closer.

"Has anyone spoken to you?" She nodded.

"A few. But they were ok." We danced to three or four songs and when the last one ended I felt a violent tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Pansy's vicious face.

"You promised."

"When?" But she didn't hear me over the music. She lurched me backwards and pulled me towards her. I danced awkwardly with her with apologetic looks at Hermione who was backing away. She backed into Blaise who offered her a dance. I shot a grateful look at him and he smiled. A curious thing for Blaise Zabini to do. Pansy drew my attention back to herself and I begrudgingly laughed at her sick jokes and complimented her horrid dress. She began to get rowdy as elves passed with trays of alcohol. Drinking glass after glass it became impossible for me to get away from her. She danced crazier, forcing people to step away so she could have her own little dance floor. I had stopped dancing now and I looked out for Hermione. She was talking to Blaise whilst she danced.

"Why are you ignoring me, Drakey?"

"Hmph?"

"Dance!"

"What?"

"Dance Drakey, Dance!" she pushed me backwards and I fell into someone. It turned out to be Excen who gave me a strange look before staring vacantly at a space between us. He was also a few steps away from me.

_**?**_

I had to be more careful.

_**Hermione**_

I noticed Pansy pushing Draco. I mentioned it to Blaise who just frowned.

"She's cranky when she's drunk." I laughed and stared at Excen who was parting through the crowd as he left. His hands were behind his back and one of them was bunched into a fist. He began muttering to himself as he passed us.

"Who is that guy?" Blaise asked "He's always at the Balls and he's such a Mudblood lover it's unbelievable."

"He's pretty cool once you get to know him." Blaise nodded

"I guess."

I saw Draco signal me to go over to the exit. I said goodbye to Blaise who was already eyeing a pureblood girl and left after Draco.

"Maybe we should get something to eat." He mumbled taking my hand. We entered the dining room filled with rows upon rows of tables. We sat at one near the back and the little flower centrepiece glowed in the newly illuminated candle light. We talked over a delicious meal and I tried not to think about the thing eating me. I couldn't wait to see Excen.

We left the hall just before eleven and found Excen where he said he would meet us. Excen sat in Lucius' chair behind a desk and I was surprised to see him in the dark. The only light left was from the moon and it cast an eerie glow across the moon.

"I like the dark." Excen explained to my unanswered question "It gives me a clear mind." Draco closed the door and stood over in the corner. I stepped closer to Excen as he came round the desk. He reached out and I took his hands. His jacket, I saw was over the back of Lucius' chair and he had rolled his sleeves up.

"Hold my wrists." He instructed.

"So the blood is close together?" he nodded.

"It gives me a more accurate reading." I closed my eyes as a tingling sensation passed over me. I felt it course through my veins and ripple across my ribcage. I sagged slightly but Excen held me up. My feet had become numb and my head heavy. I opened my eyes and gasped. Excen was staring intently at me. The whites of his eyes glowing frostily and his blue irises shining like sapphires in the sun. With each heartbeat I took his pupils swelled and shrinked. The rhythm was creepy but I became hypnotised by each pulsing beat.

Suddenly he sprang away and began to rub his forehead.

"Leave!" he cried. "Leave!" I realised he was talking to me. I span round feeling a burning sensation in my heart. I rubbed the skin and looked down a red streak began to appear. It sliced through my skin and began to bleed slowly along the cut.

"I can feel it to." Draco said pulling his white shirt away from his chest. I could see dots of blood along his shirt and how pale his face had gone. His worst fear was sliding along his stomach and he wasn't moaning about it.

"You really were meant to be in Gryffindor you know." I told him. He smiled weakly and pecked my cheek as I passed him. "Hope your ok, Excen." I said feebly as the tall, thin man began to clutch his hair. "Get out!" he shrieked. I ran from the room and straight into Pansy.

"What were you doing in there?" she snapped.

"Sorting some papers out for Lucius."

"Right," she sneered "And who wanted you out?" I faltered

"Was ickle 'elanie in places she shouldn't be? Is ickle 'elanie trying to steal my faithful Dra-"she stopped in the middle of her drunken slur and I swear I heard her whisper some barely audible words as she fell at my feet. She began to snore loudly so I hurried on.

_**?**_

Why was I never aware of this?

_**Draco**_

I raced to Excen as soon as the door clicked shut.

"What happened? What did you see?" I shook his shoulders and he looked up at me slowly. "What happened?" I shrieked.

"I don't know."

"What?" this was the man who was certain of everything he did, even though it could be wrong.

"There's nothing there Draco but a body and pulse."

"_Nothing_?"

"Not a whisper."

"Then what's wrong with you?"

"There is something actually. A thing of some sorts. It speaks to me. It well comes me. It CLINGS TO ME!" he became hysterical again and I felt the bottom of my stomach drop. What had I done to Excen's mind? His whirlwind mind that people either got or didn't. We jumped as colours filled the room. Outside the finale firework display was under way. Pops and bangs echoed across the grounds and Excen shuddered.

"I need to rest."

"Stay here then."

"No! It's here. In these walls. I feel it. I hear it. I think it. I want it gone." And abruptly he swept from the room and I followed, tripping over Pansy as I went. Excen had run into a sprint, his tie flying over his shoulder. My own flapped back as I picked up the pace. I could feel Excen bending the light to hide himself but I forced my powers to my hands and held them up so that my blue palms prevented him from hiding. I pushed past people on the staircase. Scorching robes and ball gowns as I went. I flung open the door and ran as hard as I could down the gravel. Fairies that were glowing against the hedge gasped as we past. I levelled my hands above my head and a sheet of blue blocked Excen's path. He ran through it like it was water. With his shape cut out in the barrier I flicked it away and heard the gates grind open.

"Baxter, NO!" but it was too late. Excen sprinted into the night. I kept going beside a niggling thought in the back of my mind. I was thrown back into my own driveway than a force greater than my own. The gates swung shut a few yards away and I moaned to the stars. I heard the flapping of wings above me.

_**?**_

What have I just witnessed?

_**Hermione**_

Draco arrived in the back gardens looking flustered and tired. He gravitated towards me and I pulled him into a hug. His hair was windswept and his breaths long and ragged.

"What happened?"

"I hurt him Hermione. I forced him to help. I brought him into this and he's messed in the head now. What have I done?" he began to sob and I rubbed the flowing tears from his cheeks.

"You did nothing wrong. He'll be ok." But I was prepared to eat my words as a blood curdling scream rippled through the air. People stopped. We stopped. Then we both started. In seconds we were through the house (After me kicking off my heels) and wrapping our arms round the prison cell like rungs of the gate.

"Excen!" Draco screamed. We were faced with silence.

"A tip," I heard, I turned into fog. Ethan's skin was black and green. The smell of rotting flesh disgusted me. But his croaky voice and bleeding limbs drew my attention. "Be ready. And the other one will die."

"The other one?"

"He goes by the name Ronald Weasly." He was gone in a whip of wind.

"Ethan?" Draco asked. I nodded.

"What does he want?" I blinked at the lights on in the Manor.

"We have to go to St Mungos."

_**So I know it was a long wait but I hope you enjoyed it.**_

_**Who's ? place your ideas below ;)**_

_**Thank you for reading.**_


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